US 12,127,498 B2Granted

Belt-type cutting system comprising knives for cutting crops, including means for monitoring the condition of the knives

AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC

InventorsBart M. A. Missotten, Jasper Vanlerberghe, Sam Reubens, Lucas Deruyter, Frederik Tallir, Dré W. J. Jongmans, Sahand Hajshekoleslami, Pieter Van Overschelde

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Abstract

A cutting system includes knives attached to a continuously moving belt-type carrier. The carrier motion moves the knives past stationary counterknife fingers which are attached to or uniform with a cutterbar, as the cutting system is driven through a field of crop stalks, which are cut by the interaction between the knives and counterknives. One or more sensing devices produce signals or images related to the condition of the knives when the knives are moving past the sensing devices. A processing unit processes the signals or images and derives therefrom one or more parameters representative of the condition of the knives, and compares the parameters to a reference, to thereby monitor the condition. An agricultural implement such as a combine harvester, can be equipped with the cutting system.

A cutting system that is configured to be driven through a field in order to cut plant stalks at a given distance from the ground, the cutting system comprising:

a belt-type carrier configured to be guided by a set of pulleys so as to move in a direction transversal to the stalks;
a plurality of knives attached to a lateral surface of the carrier;
a cutterbar having a plurality of counterknives configured to remain stationary relative to the knives as the knives move past the counterknives to thereby cut the stalks;
at least one sensing device mounted at a location along a path of the knives, said location enabling the sensing device to capture a signal or image that is related to one of the knives moving relative to the sensing device;
and
a processing unit for (i) processing the signal or image, (ii) deriving one or more parameters from the signal or image, and (iii) comparing said one or more parameters to a reference, thereby enabling the cutting system to determine the condition of said one of the knives,
wherein the knives each have upper and lower surfaces,
wherein the at least one sensing device is configured to detect a presence of said upper or lower surface of the knives,
wherein the at least one sensing device comprises a plurality of sensors that are each located at a given distance from the carrier, so that when a knife is not damaged or worn, the respective sensor produces a substantially rectangular signal as a function of time, a length of the rectangular signal being a reference length determined by a speed of the carrier and by a width of the knife at said given distance, so that a comparison of the signals obtained from the knives to said reference during operation of the cutting system enables monitoring of the condition of the knives,
wherein the plurality of the sensors are positioned at different distances from the carrier, so that each sensor of said plurality of sensors produces a signal that is to be compared to a different reference length.

7 more elements

Facts

Application

17/841,948Filed 16 Jun 2022

Priority

EP 2118015717 Jun 2021

Published

US 2022/0400607 A122 Dec 2022

Granted

29 Oct 2024

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

A01D 34/006
Mowers ; Mowing apparatus of harvesters: control or measuring arrangements
A01D 34/831
Having cutting members on endless belts or sprocket chains: with blades on endless belts
A01D 34/04
Mounted on a vehicle, e.g. a tractor, or drawn by an animal or a vehicle: with cutters at the front
G01J 5/0859
Optical arrangements: sighting arrangements, e.g. cameras

Abstract

Claims14