Cutting-Line Sensing Methods for an Automated Concrete Pile Cutter

The use of prefabricated concrete piles have been gradually increased in many construction sites. One of main works for building a concrete pile foundation is to crush a part of pile head which is compressed with more than . A pile cutting work is usually performed by a crusher and three to four skilled workers. Recent reports on the pile cutting work reveal that a lot of cracks which significantly reduce the strength of the pile and are frequently made during pile cutting operations and it is very repetitive and labor intensive work. To improve productivity, safety, and quality of the conventional concrete pile cutting work, the research on developing an automated concrete pile cutter has been performed. In this paper, sensing methods for detecting a pile cutting line are suggested with operation process algorithms. The suggested methods are very important to develop the automated pile cutter. A pilot-type of the automated pile cutter that adopt one of the suggested sensing methods, is developed and tested in a construction site.