Velocity control of agricultural machinery
AssigneeCNH America LLC
InventorsChristopher Foster, Richard Strosser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The apparatus is an automatic velocity control system for an agricultural machine. Three feedback circuits are used to increase reliability and repeatability of the apparatus despite variations in load and ground conditions and non-linear responses of control components. A solenoid current sensor supplies a feedback signal to control a current controller for solenoids controlling a hydraulic valve, a hydraulic cylinder position sensor provides a feedback signal to counteract the non-linearity of the hydraulic valve controlling the hydraulic cylinder, and wheel speed sensors supply vehicle speed signals to be compared to the signal from the operator's speed control. A microprocessor processes the sensor signals to maintain the desired velocity.
Claims4
In a machine in which hydraulic components control the machine velocity:
- by moving a speed control that controls the outputs of hydraulic pumps that drive hydraulic wheel motors;
- the action of the hydraulic components is controlled by at least one hydraulic valve that is operated by at least one solenoid, with the hydraulic valve varying the oil flow to the hydraulic components;
- and an operator's control handle furnishes commands for the at least one hydraulic valve through a microprocessor;
- the improvement comprising:
- a velocity control apparatus comprising a velocity control feedback loop providing velocity status information to the microprocessor to maintain the velocity of the machine at a velocity selected by an operator of the machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.