Adjusting a sod harvester's stacking position to form vertically aligned stacks
AssigneeFireFly Automatix, Inc.
InventorsSteven R. Aposhian, Eric E. Aston, William M. Decker, Mark C. LeBlanc, Daniel A. Aposhian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sod harvester's stacking position can be dynamically adjusted to form vertically aligned stacks. More particularly, a sod harvester's control system can be configured to automatically adjust the stacking position as a stack is being formed based on a sensed orientation of the pallet. In this way, the control system can ensure that a slab of sod that is dropped from the stacking head will fall into the intended location on the stack regardless of the orientation of the pallet relative to the stacking head.
Claims21
A method for adjusting a sod harvester's stacking position to form vertically aligned stacks, the method comprising:
- positioning a stacking head of a sod harvester at a stacking position while stacking sod on a pallet that is supported by the sod harvester;
- while stacking sod on the pallet, sensing an orientation of the pallet;
- and
- in response to sensing that the orientation of the pallet has changed, positioning the stacking head at an adjusted stacking position while stacking sod on the pallet.
A control system of a sod harvester that is configured to adjust the sod harvester's stacking position to form vertically aligned stacks by performing the following:
- continuously sensing an orientation of a pallet on which a stacking head of the sod harvester is stacking sod;
- based on the sensing, calculating an adjusted stacking position;
- and
- causing the stacking head to be positioned at the adjusted stacking position when stacking sod on the pallet to thereby cause a vertically aligned stack to be formed on the pallet.
A sod harvester comprising:
- a cutting head for removing sod from the ground;
- one or more inclined conveyors for conveying the sod from the cutting head to a stacking conveyor;
- the stacking conveyor;
- a stacking head for removing the sod from the stacking conveyor and stacking the sod on a pallet;
- and
- a control system that detects an orientation of the pallet while the stacking head stacks the sod on the pallet and adjusts a stacking position of the stacking head based on the orientation of the pallet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.