US 12,575,493 B2Granted

System and method for controlling machine based on cost of harvest

AssigneeDeere & Company

InventorsStephen R. Corban, Mario L Donini, Kent S. Brown, Adam J. Donohoe

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Abstract

A control system of an agricultural machine for performing a harvest operation includes a controller having a memory unit and a processor. The control system also includes a fuel sensor, a grain loss sensor and at least one user control of a plurality of user controls disposed in communication with the controller. The memory unit includes a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, causes the control system to receive a plurality of inputs via the controller including the rate of fuel from the fuel sensor, the amount of grain loss from the grain loss sensor, and one or more preset cost values from the at least one user control, process the plurality of inputs to determine a current cost of harvest value, and output a current cost of harvest value during the harvest operation.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A control system of an agricultural machine for performing a harvest operation, comprising:

a controller comprising at least one memory unit and at least one processor;
a fuel sensor disposed in communication with the controller, the fuel sensor configured to detect a rate of fuel being delivered to a power-generating device of the machine;
a grain loss sensor disposed in communication with the controller, the grain loss sensor configured to detect an amount of grain loss from the machine;
a grain quality sensor configured to detect an amount of foreign material or broken grain in harvested material during the harvest operation;
and
at least one user control of a plurality of user controls disposed in communication with the controller;
wherein, the at least one memory unit comprises a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the at least one processor, causes the control system to:
receive a plurality of inputs via the controller including the rate of fuel delivery from the fuel sensor, the amount of grain loss from the grain loss sensor, the amount of foreign material or broken grain from the grain quality sensor, and one or more preset cost values from the at least one user control, the one or more preset cost values including a grain dockage cost;
determine, based on the detected amount of foreign material or broken grain being determined to satisfy a predetermined threshold, a penalty cost to be applied as the grain dockage cost;
and
process the plurality of inputs to determine a current cost of harvest value;
and
output a current cost of harvest value in real-time during the harvest operation.

10 more elements

A method of operating an agricultural machine to perform a harvest operation, comprising:

providing the machine with a controller, a fuel sensor, a grain loss sensor, and a ground speed sensor;
detecting via the fuel sensor a rate of fuel delivered to a power-generating device of the machine;
detecting via the grain loss sensor an amount of grain loss from the machine during the harvest operation;
detecting a machine ground speed via the ground speed sensor;
receiving, by the controller, a plurality of input data including the rate of fuel, the amount of grain loss, the machine ground speed, a labor cost for operating the machine, a trade cost of the machine, and a consumable cost for running the machine;
processing, by the controller, the plurality of input data to determine a current cost of harvest value during the harvest operation as a function of the rate of fuel, the amount of grain loss, the machine ground speed, the labor cost for operating the machine, the trade cost of the machine, the consumable cost for running the machine, and a productivity value of the machine, and as adjusted based on a grain dockage penalty cost associated with an amount of foreign material or broken seed in the harvested material;
and
controlling the machine to reduce the current cost of harvest value to satisfy a cost of harvest threshold.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.