# US 11,895,937 B2 · Slip determination system, travel path generation system, and field work vehicle

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- Number: US 11,895,937 B2
- Document ID: US11895937B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/766,463
- Filed: 2018-12-10
- Published: 2020-12-03
- Granted: 2024-02-13
- Earliest claimed: 2017-12-15
- Assignees: Kubota Corporation
- Applicants: Kubota Corporation
- Inventors: Kazuo Sakaguchi; Tomohiko Sano; Osamu Yoshida; Tetsuya Nakajima; Takashi Nakabayashi; Satoshi Maruo; Kazuhiro Takahara
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11895937B2

## CPC

- A01B 69/008: {automatic}
- A01B 76/00: Parts, details or accessories of agricultural machines or implements, not provided for in groups A01B51/00 - A01B75/00
- A01D 41/1278: {for automatic steering}
- A01D 75/00: Accessories for harvesters or mowers
- B60W 30/02: Control of vehicle driving stability
- B60W 30/045: Improving turning performance
- B60W 40/06: Road conditions
- B60W 40/064: Degree of grip
- B60W 60/0016: {of the vehicle or its occupants}
- B60W 60/005: {Handover processes (Handing over between remote control and on-board control or handing over between remote control arrangements G05D1/227)}
- B60W 60/0053: {from vehicle to occupant}
- G05D 1/0214: {in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas (monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13)}
- G05D 1/0272: {comprising means for registering the travel distance, e.g. revolutions of wheels (measuring distance traversed on the ground by vehicles, e.g. using odometers G01C22/00)}
- G05D 1/617: Safety or protection, e.g. defining protection zones around obstacles or avoiding hazards (arrangements for controlling the position or course of two or more vehicles for avoiding collisions therebetween G05D1/693; arrangements for reacting to or preventing system or operator failure G05D1/80)
- A01B 79/005: {Precision agriculture}
- B60W 2520/20: Sideslip angle
- B60W 2520/26: Wheel slip
- B60W 2552/00: Input parameters relating to infrastructure
- B60W 2556/50: of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
- B60W 2720/12: Lateral speed
- A01B: SOIL WORKING IN AGRICULTURE OR FORESTRY; PARTS, DETAILS, OR ACCESSORIES OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINES OR IMPLEMENTS, IN GENERAL (making or covering furrows or holes for sowing, planting or manuring A01C5/00; mowers convertible to soil working apparatus or capable of soil working A01D42/04; mowers combined with soil working implements A01D43/12; soil working for engineering purposes E01, E02, E21)
- A01D: HARVESTING; MOWING
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES

## Abstract

A slip determination system is provided that is capable of providing appropriate control information to a traveling vehicle when the traveling vehicle has proceeded to an area where a slip is likely to occur during automatic travel. The slip determination system includes: a vehicle position detection module for detecting a vehicle position; and an automatic travel control portion for enabling automatic travel based on the vehicle position and a set travel path; a slip amount calculation portion for calculating a slip amount of the traveling vehicle body, using an estimated movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the number of revolutions of a driving axle of the traveling vehicle body, and an actual movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the vehicle position; an appropriateness determination portion for performing appropriateness determination to determine, based on the slip amount, whether or not a state of a traveling ground surface is appropriate for automatic travel; and an automatic travel stop portion for stopping automatic travel based on a determination result.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A slip determination system comprising:
a traveling vehicle body;
a vehicle position detection module for detecting a vehicle position;
an automatic travel control portion for enabling automatic travel based on the vehicle position and a set travel path;
a slip amount calculation portion for calculating a slip amount of the traveling vehicle body, using an estimated movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the number of revolutions of a driving axle of the traveling vehicle body, and an actual movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the vehicle position;
an appropriateness determination portion for performing appropriateness determination to determine, based on the slip amount, whether or not a state of a traveling ground surface is appropriate for automatic travel; and
an automatic travel stop portion for stopping automatic travel enabled by the automatic travel control portion, based on a determination result from the appropriateness determination portion,
wherein the appropriateness determination portion performs the appropriateness determination based on successive behavior of the slip amount, the successive behavior being based on a statistical calculation result of average calculation or intermediate value calculation, in a predetermined period, of successively calculating a plurality of the slip amount.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The slip determination system according to claim 1, further comprising
a turning performance adjustment portion for adjusting turning performance of the traveling vehicle body,
wherein the turning performance adjustment portion adjusts the turning performance if the slip amount exceeds a predetermined value.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The slip determination system according to claim 2,
wherein, as the adjustment of the turning performance, a speed of the traveling vehicle body is increased when straight travel is switched to turning travel.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The slip determination system according to claim 2, further comprising
a tilting mechanism for tilting the traveling vehicle body, wherein, as the adjustment of the turning performance, the traveling vehicle body is tilted such that a turning outer side thereof is raised during a turn.

### Claim 5

A travel path generation system that generates a travel path for performing automatic travel in a field in which work is performed by different types of field work vehicles, the system comprising:
a work information storage management portion for storing and managing work information in a form in which the work information is linked with corresponding field information and corresponding work vehicle information, the work information being uploaded after being generated by a preceding field work vehicle previously performing work in the field, the preceding field work vehicle being in a form of a seeding machine or a rice transplanter as a seedling row forming machine for forming seedling rows;
a work information acquisition portion for acquiring, from the work information storage management portion, a seedling row formation map included in the work information regarding the preceding field work vehicle; and
a path calculation portion for calculating, based on the seedling row formation map, a subsequent field work vehicle travel path for a subsequent field work vehicle that is to perform automatic travel work hereafter in the field in which work has been performed by the preceding field work vehicle,
wherein the path calculation portion calculates the subsequent field work vehicle travel path with use of positions of the seedling rows and a direction in which the seedling rows extend, the positions and the direction being obtained based on the seedling row formation map, the subsequent field work vehicle travel path being calculated such that the subsequent field work vehicle travel path includes a first path and a second path, the first path extending in the direction in which the seedling rows extend, the second path extending in a direction crossing the direction in which the seedling rows extend, the first path being longer than the second path.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The travel path generation system according to claim 5,
wherein the path calculation portion includes a dividing path calculation portion for calculating a dividing path that divides the field, as one subsequent field work vehicle travel path, and
the dividing path calculation portion calculates the dividing path based on the seedling row formation map, such that the travel path in divided fields that are divided by the dividing path can be readily extended in the direction in which the seedling rows extend.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The travel path generation system according to claim 5,
wherein a harvesting portion of the subsequent field work vehicle is provided with dividers that are arranged laterally, and
the travel path is corrected so as to optimize a positional relationship between (i) positions of the seedling rows on an unworked area side that are calculated based on the seedling row formation map, and (ii) a position of one of the dividers, on an end side in a machine-body left-right direction.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

A field work vehicle comprising:
the travel path generation system according to claim 6;
a vehicle position detection module for detecting a vehicle position; and
an automatic travel control portion for enabling automatic travel based on the travel path calculated by the path calculation portion and the vehicle position.

### Claim 9

A slip determination system comprising:
a traveling vehicle body;
a vehicle position detection module for detecting a vehicle position;
an automatic travel control portion for enabling automatic travel based on the vehicle position and a set travel path;
a slip amount calculation portion for calculating a slip amount of the traveling vehicle body, using an estimated movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the number of revolutions of a driving axle of the traveling vehicle body, and an actual movement distance of the traveling vehicle body calculated based on the vehicle position;
an appropriateness determination portion for performing appropriateness determination to determine, based on the slip amount, whether or not a state of a traveling ground surface is appropriate for automatic travel and for determining, if the slip amount exceeds an allowable slip amount, that the state of the traveling ground surface is not appropriate for automatic travel;
an automatic travel stop portion for stopping automatic travel enabled by the automatic travel control portion, based on a determination result from the appropriateness determination portion; and
a turning performance adjustment portion for adjusting turning performance of the traveling vehicle body,
wherein if the slip amount exceeds a predetermined value, the turning performance adjustment portion adjusts the turning performance without the automatic travel stop portion stopping automatic travel.