Berry harvester weighing system
AssigneeOxbo International Corporation
InventorsScott Korthuis, Matthew Schleicher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A berry harvester includes a chassis, a berry removal system, a berry delivery system, an inspection station and a container filling station. The container filling station includes a berry delivery apparatus that conveys berries to containers on a container support. A container weighing system includes a container fill indicator generating a weighing signal. A processor is in communication with the weighing system and incorporates a filter for cancelling vibrations from the weighing signal. A method uses the container weighing system and the processor to indicate when a container is filled to contain a desired amount of berries and automatically reset when the filled container is removed.
Claims23
A berry harvester, comprising:
- a chassis;
- a berry removal system;
- a berry delivery system;
- a container filling station, the container filling station comprising:
- a berry delivery apparatus;
- a container support;
- a container weighing system generating a weighing signal;
- a processor in communication with the weighing system, the processor cancelling vibrations from the weighing signal.
A berry weighing system configured for installation on a harvester, comprising:
- a container filling station configured to receive harvested fruit, the container filling station comprising:
- a container support;
- a container weighing system weighing a container and fruit in the container to determine a weight of the container including the fruit in the container, and generating a weighing signal;
- a processor in communication with the weighing system and cancelling vibrations from the weighing signal;
- and
- an alarm signaling when the container including the fruit in the container has reached a specified weight.
A berry harvester weighing system, configured for installation on a harvester, comprising:
- a container filling station configured to receive harvested fruit, the container filling station comprising:
- a container support;
- a container weighing system weighing a container and fruit in the container and generating a weighing signal;
- a processor in communication with the container weighing system and cancelling vibrations from the weighing signal;
- wherein the processor is in communication with a position indicator, the processor being configured to map yields.
A method of harvesting and filling containers with fruit with a harvester having a container filling station, comprising:
- removing fruit from plants;
- delivering the fruit to the container filling station and filling containers with the fruit;
- weighing the containers on a container support to generate a weighing signal as the containers are filled with fruit;
- processing the weighing signal;
- cancelling vibrations from the weighing signal;
- and
- activating an alarm when the container on the container support is filled to a predetermined weight indicated by the weighing signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.