Automatically raised and lowered windrow roller
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorNathan R. Drzal
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An agricultural vehicle includes a chassis; a header carried by the chassis and including a cutter mechanism, the header being adjustable in a vertical direction; a swath roller carried by the chassis behind the header; a roller actuator connected to the swath roller and configured to adjust the swath roller in the vertical direction; and a controller coupled to the roller actuator. The controller is configured for: detecting when the header raises in the vertical direction; recording a header raising point where the header raises; determining when the swath roller reaches the header raising point; and signaling the roller actuator to raise the swath roller when the swath roller reaches the header raising point.
Claims18
An agricultural vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis;
- a header carried by said chassis and including a cutter mechanism, said header being adjustable in a vertical direction;
- a swath roller carried by said chassis behind said header;
- a roller actuator connected to said swath roller and configured to adjust said swath roller in the vertical direction;
- and
- a controller coupled to said roller actuator, said controller being configured for:
- determining a header raising point where said header raises in a vertical direction;
- determining when said swath roller reaches said header raising point;
- and
- signaling said roller actuator to raise said swath roller after the header raises when said swath roller reaches said header raising point;
- wherein said header raisin point is a field location.
A method of controlling an agricultural vehicle including a vertically adjustable header and a swath roller trailing said header and vertically adjustable by a roller actuator, comprising the steps of:
- recording a header raising point with a control system where said header raises in a vertical direction, wherein the header raising point is a geographic location;
- determining with the control system when said swath roller reaches said header raising point;
- and
- signaling with the control system said roller actuator to raise said swath roller when said swath roller reaches said header raising point
- wherein the raising of the swath roller occurs after the raising of the header during forward travel based on a separation distance of the swath roller and header.
An agricultural vehicle, comprising:
- a chassis;
- a header carried by said chassis and including a cutter mechanism, said header being adjustable in a vertical direction;
- a swath roller carried by said chassis behind said header;
- a roller actuator connected to said swath roller and configured to adjust said swath roller in the vertical direction;
- and
- a controller coupled to said roller actuator, said controller being configured for:
- determining when said header moves in the vertical direction;
- and
- signaling said roller actuator to move said swath roller in the same vertical direction as said header after a delay from when the header was moved in the vertical direction wherein the delay is related to a separation distance between the header and the swath roller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.