Field Trials of Laser Surveying and of Experimental Earthmover Blade Control Kit

CEL has for several years been experimenting with automatic surveying and with retrofit automatic blade control kits for construction equipment. Earlier progress on these kits was presented in SAE Paper 750765.

Included in this work is an experimental automatic blade control kit developed for a tractor with power-tilt blade. This paper describes results of recent field trials of the tractor kit conducted to compare and record the efficiency of completing a typical earthwork project utilizing present conventional Naval Construction Force surveying and earthmoving equipment versus the efficiency of completing the same project utilizing the automatic controls kit installed on a dozer and laser surveying equipment. The test project was considered representative of earthwork typically encountered in permanent construction.

Use of the laser surveying equipment and the automatic control kit for blade elevation and tilt reduced job time by 40 percent and job labor by 50 percent for the project executed during the trials, without loss of finished surface quality.