# US 12,213,406 B2 · Controlling a machine based on cracked kernel detection

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- Number: US 12,213,406 B2
- Document ID: US12213406B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/065,362
- Filed: 2022-12-13
- Published: 2023-05-04
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2018-10-31
- Assignees: Deere & Company
- Applicants: Deere & Company
- Inventors: Zachary T. Bonefas; Niels Dybro
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12213406B2

## CPC

- A01D 41/127: Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines
- A01D 43/085: {Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted therefor}
- A01D 43/102: {Bruising control devices}
- A01D 45/02: of maize {, i.e. kernel harvesting (for ensilage maize A01D43/081)}
- A01D 82/00: Crop conditioners, i.e. machines for crushing or bruising stalks (combined with harvesters A01D43/10)
- G01N 21/6456: {Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging}
- G01N 21/6486: {Measuring fluorescence of biological material, e.g. DNA, RNA, cells (G01N21/6428 takes precedence)}
- G01N 21/85: Investigating moving fluids or granular solids
- A01D 41/1277: {for measuring grain quality}
- G01N 2021/8466: {Investigation of vegetal material, e.g. leaves, plants, fruits}
- Y02P 60/87: Re-use of by-products of food processing for fodder production
- A01D: HARVESTING; MOWING
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

An image capture device captures an image of crop after it has been processed by a kernel processing unit on a forage harvester. A size distribution indicative of the distribution of kernel fragment sizes in the harvested crop is identified from the image captured by the image capture device. A control system generates control signals to control a speed differential in the speed of rotation of kernel processing rollers based on the size distribution. Control signals can also be generated to control a size of a gap between the kernel processing rollers.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A forage harvester comprising:
a chopper configured to receive severed crop and to chop the received severed crop into pieces;
a kernel processing unit that includes a first kernel processing roller and a second kernel processing roller separated from the first kernel processing roller by a gap;
a roller position actuator configured to change a size of the gap;
an imaging device configured to capture an image of processed crop that has been processed by the kernel processing unit, the image indicating kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by kernel fragments in the processed crop;
an image processing system configured to identify sizes of the kernel fragments in the image based on the indication of kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by the kernel fragments; and
a control system configured to generate a control signal to control the roller position actuator to change the size of the gap based on the identified sizes of the kernel fragments.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The forage harvester of claim 1 and further comprising:
a first drive mechanism configured to drive rotation of the first kernel processing roller; and
a second drive mechanism configured to drive rotation of the second kernel processing roller.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The forage harvester of claim 2, wherein the control system is further configured to:
generate a control signal to control one of the first drive mechanism and the second drive mechanism to control a speed differential between the first kernel processing roller and the second kernel processing roller.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The forage harvester of claim 1 and further comprising:
a radiation source configured to emit source radiation at a source wavelength that causes the kernel fragments to fluoresce the kernel fragment radiation at a fluoresced wavelength; and
a radiation source controller configured to control the radiation source to emit the source radiation.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The forage harvester of claim 4 and further comprising:
a notch filter optically disposed between the kernel fragments and the imaging device and configured to filter radiation outside a range of wavelengths that is centered on the fluoresced wavelength.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The forage harvester of claim 5, wherein the radiation source comprises a source of ultraviolet C radiation centered on 254 nanometers.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The forage harvester of claim 6, wherein the notch filter is configured to pass radiation centered on 335 nanometers.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The forage harvester of claim 1, wherein the image processing system comprises:
noise filter logic that identifies image noise in the image and filters the pixels based on the image noise to obtain filtered pixels.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The forage harvester of claim 8, wherein the image processing system comprises:
pixel enhancement logic configured to identify sets of the filtered pixels, each set corresponding to a different kernel fragment in the image.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The forage harvester of claim 9, wherein the image processing system comprises:
size filtering logic configured to filter the sets of filtered pixels based on a kernel size, to obtain size-filtered pixels.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The forage harvester of claim 10, wherein the image processing system comprises:
size distribution identification logic configured to identify a size distribution of the kernel fragments based on the size-filtered pixels.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The forage harvester of claim 11, wherein the image processing system comprises:
metric generation logic configured to aggregate the size distribution over time to obtain an aggregated size distribution metric, the control system being configured to generate the control signal based on the aggregated size distribution metric.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The forage harvester of claim 11 and further comprising:
a geographic position sensor configured to sense a geographic position of the forage harvester and generate a position signal indicative of the sensed geographic position; and
metric generation logic configured to map the size distribution to different geographic locations based on the position signal to obtain a mapped size distribution metric, the control system being configured to generate the control signal based on the mapped size distribution metric.

### Claim 14 (depends on 3)

The forage harvester of claim 3 and further comprising:
a power consumption sensor configured to sense a power consumption variable indicative of power consumed by the kernel processing unit; and
metric generator logic configured to generate a metric indicative of a change in power consumption given a change in the size of the gap or a change in the speed differential.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The forage harvester of claim 14, wherein the power consumption sensor comprises at least one of a torque sensor, configured to sense torque output by at least one of the first and second drive mechanisms, and a fuel consumption sensor, configured to sense fuel consumption of the forage harvester.

### Claim 16

A method of controlling a forage harvester comprising:
receiving severed crop at a kernel processing unit that includes a first kernel processing roller and a second kernel processing roller separated from the first kernel processing roller by a gap;
capturing an image of processed crop that has been processed by the kernel processing unit, the image indicating kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by kernel fragments in the processed crop;
identifying sizes of the kernel fragments in the image based on the indication of kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by the kernel fragments; and
generating a control signal to control a size of the gap between the first kernel processing roller and the second kernel processing roller based on the identified sizes of the kernel fragments.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16 and further comprising:
generating an additional control signal to control a speed differential between the first kernel processing roller and the second kernel processing roller based on the identified sizes of the kernel fragments.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein capturing the image comprises:
impinging ultraviolet C radiation, centered on approximately 254 nanometers, on the processed crop; and
filtering radiation, received from the processed crop, outside a range of wavelengths that is centered on approximately 335 nanometers, to obtain filtered radiation and wherein identifying the sizes of the kernel fragments comprises identifying the sizes of the kernel fragments based on the filtered radiation.

### Claim 19

A forage harvester comprising:
a controllable subsystem;
an imaging device configured to capture an image of processed crop, the image indicating kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by kernel fragments in the processed crop;
an image processing system configured to identify sizes of the kernel fragments in the image based on the indication of kernel fragment radiation fluoresced by the kernel fragments; and
a control system configured to generate a control signal to control the controllable subsystem based on the identified sizes of the kernel fragments.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The forage harvester of claim 19, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises one of:
a roller position actuator configured to adjust a size of a gap between a first kernel processing roller and a second kernel processing roller; or
a motor configured to adjust a speed of rotation of one of the first kernel processing roller and the second kernel processing roller.