US 12,310,292 B2Granted

Square baler implement with twine monitoring system

AssigneeDeere & Company

InventorUmesh B. Jadhao

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Abstract

A baler implement includes a housing defining a baling chamber for forming a bale having a parallelepiped shape, and a knotter system for wrapping and tying twine around the bale. A knotter controller is configured to determine a remaining length of a first twine in a first twine supply, and determine a remaining length of a second twine in a second twine supply. The knotter controller may then calculate an estimated remaining number of bales that may be secured based on the remaining length of the first twine and the second twine. The knotter controller may communicate an output signal to an output device indicating the estimated remaining number of bales that may be secured. The knotter controller may automatically communicate a resupply request when the first twine and/or the second twine are low.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A baler implement comprising:

a housing defining a baling chamber shaped to form a material into a bale having a parallelepiped shape, wherein the parallelepiped shape of the bale includes a length, a width, and a height;
a knotter system including a knotter, a first twine supply having a first twine and a second twine supply having a second twine, wherein the knotter is operable to receive the first twine from the first twine supply and the second twine from the second twine supply and tie the first twine and the second twine together to form a knot;
a knotter controller including a processor and a memory having a twine monitoring algorithm stored thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the twine monitoring algorithm to:
determine a remaining length of the first twine in the first twine supply;
determine a remaining length of the second twine in the second twine supply;
calculate an estimated remaining number of bales that are securable based on the remaining length of the first twine and the remaining length of the second twine;
and
communicate an output signal to an output device, wherein the output signal indicates the estimated remaining number of bales that are securable.

5 more elements

A method of controlling a baler implement, the method comprising:

forming a bale in a baling chamber of the baler implement to include a parallelepiped shape having a length, a width, and a height;
wrapping a twine loop around the bale to secure the bale, with a knotter system, wherein the knotter system includes a first twine supply having a first twine and a second twine supply having a second twine, and wherein the knotter system includes a knotter operable to tie the first twine and the second twine together to form a first knot, and wherein the knotter is operable to tie the first twine and the second twine together to form a second knot thereby forming the twine loop around the bale;
determining a remaining length of the first twine in the first twine supply based on a length of the bale;
determining a remaining length of the second twine in the second twine supply based on the length of the bale;
calculating an estimated remaining number of bales that are securable based on the remaining length of the first twine and the remaining length of the second twine;
and
communicating an output signal to an output device, wherein the output signal indicates the estimated remaining number of bales that are securable.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.