对于非公路车辆来说，有时新型“汽车”功能和技术可能只是一种市场宣传的噱头，但这的确也反映了一个重要事实——公众普遍认为乘用车技术更加先进、更加尖端。事实上，在更多情况下，一些非公路车辆的确采用了“汽车”技术。无论是道路工程车辆，还是天天翻滚在灰尘泥土中的建筑机械，汽车领域的技术和功能确实开始逐步应用于这些非公路车辆。

近期，非公路领域出现的一款概念设计“天才驾驶室（Genius Cab）”就是一个证明。这款“天才驾驶室”专为建筑、农业和工业机械设计，预计可在未来2到3年内进入市场。在13个参与“天才驾驶室”联合研发项目的合作伙伴中，绝大多数为非常成熟的汽车企业。另外，多家参与项目的供应商也表示，公司的汽车业务部为“天才驾驶室”项目做出了巨大贡献。

作为参与项目的供应商之一，德国博世集团（Robert Bosch）主要为“天才驾驶室”供应车身电脑，从而协助操作员通过CAN（SAEJ1939）/LIN总线或直接实现传感器和促动器的集中控制，而且还能同时控制安装在驾驶室外部的超声波传感器。“天才驾驶室”采用的外部超声波传感器可以展示车辆周边物体的相对位置和附近障碍物，提示驾驶员注意危险情况。操作员可通过“天才驾驶室”的显示终端和安装在车顶的Hella Scenario Light工作指示灯获取信息。

“我们在汽车行业积累了丰富的系统整合经验，这为我们进入建筑机械领域提供了巨大的优势。”博世商用车及非公路设备业务部销售与系统工程高级经理Kai Bohne表示，“目前，我们在非公路领域的业务主要集中在液压、燃油及次处理系统；公司下一步的研发重点将放在HMI（人机接口）和电子系统上。”

Bohne表示，“天才驾驶室”使用的超声波传感器技术“与乘用车非常类似”，项目会将超声波传感器安装在车辆的前保杆上，协助高级预警系统发挥作用。

项目的另一个主要汽车供应商Hella公司也指出，“天才驾驶室”LED工作灯的研发主要基于之前已经应用于汽车领域的矩阵光束技术。具体来说，矩阵光束LED系统由多个细小单位组成，每个部分均可根据实际情况调亮或调暗，从而避免“眩光”的发生。举个例子，当轮式装载机的铲斗举起来时，光线不会被铲斗完全挡住，而是会从其他角度穿过去。

在长达18个月的研发周期中，系统整合一直是“天才驾驶室”合作伙伴的重点工作之一。举例来说，驾驶室前方由Fritzmeier Systems公司提供的铝制梁结构也同时充当了整合矩阵光束工作灯的散热器。

“天才驾驶室”还顺应了汽车领域的轻量化趋势。这款概念驾驶室采用了最新研发的模块化结构，可成功减重30%。“天才驾驶室”采用了焊接铝材，而后加装了钢制EXO-ROPS/FOPS（即翻车保护系统/坠物保护系统）。Fritzmeier表示，用户可根据实际需求选择不同型号的保护系统，重量从11到55吨不等。

此外，“天才驾驶室”还率采用了一款MEKRA Lang公司的可变视角后视摄像头系统，替代了传统的后视镜设计，这可以为操作员提供更高的可视度，黑暗中的表现尤佳。目前，这款摄像头系统已经登陆了多款概念公路卡车，可以在驾驶舱内的显示器上显示一些传统视角很难观察到的区域，而且还能对车辆振动进行补偿，从而提供更加稳定的画面。

汽车电缆供应商S.M.A. Metaltechnik也参与了项目的研发，主要为“天才驾驶室”提供一款内部热交换器。该公司声称，这款交换器可协助建筑机械实现“效率提升”，是同类产品中的首创技术。从概念设计阶段起，S.M.A就参与了“天才驾驶室”的空调系统研发。这家公司率先采用了已经在汽车领域成功通过测试与验证的元件，包括高密度连接技术，及具备低损耗和高灵活性等优势的制冷剂软管。

Grammer Eia Electronics公司产品经理Marko Boving表示，由该公司与德累斯顿工业大学（Dresden University of Technology）联合研发的人机接口，灵感也来源于汽车内饰设计，即在操作员的指尖触控区域设计了多功能控制区。他说，“为什么挖掘机不能采用这种设计呢？这就是我们要努力的方向。”

正如道路上的驾驶员一样，建筑机械领域的人机接口研发也面对着操作员防干扰的更高要求。“虽然我们可以显示大量信息，但你也完全可以选择忽视或隐藏部分内容。对厂商而言，这在汽车平台很容易实现。由于仅涉及软件，因此修改推广并不困难。

在介绍系统原理时，Boving还很自然地使用汽车领域中一个常见术语——认知系统工程。“我们的工作，就是为满足用户的感知需求而进行工程设计。”

我们可以从“天才驾驶室”的概念看出，未来的很多汽车技术，都将对非公路设备的研发设计带来更大影响。

Describing new features and technologies for off-highway vehicles as “automotive-style” sometimes comes off as marketing hype—words meant to tap into views that passenger vehicles are more progressive and closer to the cutting-edge. But often the link is more substantive—engineering know-how actually migrated from pavement-bound machines to those that call dirt home.

The latter scenario holds true for a recent concept cab envisioned for construction, agricultural and industrial forklift application that consists of near-series (capable of employment in off-highway within the next two or three years) components and systems. Many among the 13 partners that jointly developed the Genius CAB are firmly established in the automotive industry, and quite of few of these suppliers note the influence their automotive arms played in their contributions to the project.

Robert Bosch is one such company. The Tier 1 contributes the body computer, which enables centralized control of the sensors and actuators via CAN (SAEJ1939), LIN or directly, as well as the ultrasound sensors integrated into the exterior of the Genius CAB to detect dangerous situations by displaying relative positions and nearby obstacles. The information is communicated to the operator via the display terminal and a Hella ScenarioLight installed in the roof.

“We have a lot of experience [with systems integration] coming from the automotive industry, so using that on a construction machine really gives us a big advantage,” said Kai Bohne, Senior Manager of Sales and System Engineering, Commercial Vehicle and Off-road Business. “Our main business in off-highway currently is hydraulics, fuel systems and aftertreatment systems; HMI [human-machine interface] and electronics is the next step on top of that.”

The ultrasonic sensors are “similar technology from pass car,” he said, which would be mounted in the bumper for advanced warning systems.

Hella, another major automotive supplier, notes that development of the cab’s LED worklights was based on its previously-deployed-in-automotive matrix beam technology. Subdivided into multiple units that can be dimmed up or down according to the situation, matrix beam LEDs avoid “dazzling” operators. For example, while the bucket of a wheel loader is raised, it is not illuminated and the light is routed past it.

During the 18-month development process for the Genius CAB, systems integration was a key focus for the partners. One example is the aluminum front beam structure, manufactured by Fritzmeier Systems, doubling as a heat sink for the integrated matrix beam worklights.

The Genius CAB also taps into a trend that is huge in automotive now: lightweighting. The cab features a newly developed modular structure that results in a 30% reduction in weight. A “soft cab” is made from welded aluminum special profiles, and a steel EXO-ROPS/FOPS (rollover protection system/falling object protection system) is attached over the cab as an add-on. This exo-structure can be variably adapted to suit the weight of the machine, according to Fritzmeier, ranging from 10 to 50 t (11 to 55 ton).

Instead of mirrors, a camera system combined with a variable view reversing camera from MEKRA Lang—used for the first time in a cab for an off-highway vehicle—provides enhanced surround visibility, especially in the dark. The system, which has been demonstrated in future-looking on-highway trucks, displays hard-to-see areas at the rear of the vehicle on screens inside the cab, while compensating for the vehicle’s vibrations.

Automotive cable supplier S.M.A. Metaltechnik also contributed to the project, supplying an internal heat exchanger that the company claims is the first “efficiency boosting component of this nature” to be used in a construction machine. Involved in the cab’s air-conditioning system since the concept phase, S.M.A. decided up front to use components that had undergone successful testing and deployment in the automotive sector, including high-density connection technologies and refrigerant hoses featuring low loss and high flexibility.

The inspiration behind the HMI setup developed by Grammer in collaboration with Dresden University of Technology was the car interior—having multifunctional controls at the operator’s fingertips, according to Marko Boving, Product Manager, Grammer EiA Electronics. “Why can’t you do that in an excavator? This is what we focused on,” he said.

As with drivers on the road, operator distraction is a major consideration in HMI design. “Although we can show a lot of information, you can disengage [certain functionalities] or not show them. For OEMs, it’s easy for vehicle platforms; it’s just software, so the modification factor is high.”

Boving used a term common in automotive, of course, to describe the discipline: cognitive systems engineering. “We engineer what you can perceive, and that’s what we did here.”

If the Genius CAB concept is an accurate indicator, it’s easy to perceive automotive technologies and sensibilities having an even greater influence on off-highway cabs in the near future.

Author: Ryan Gehm
Source: SAE Truck & Off-highway Engineering Magazine