US 2023/0066442 A1 · SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSIGNING WEIGHTED AVERAGE QUALITY VALUE TO BALED PLANT MATERIAL

Abstract

A system and method for evaluating individual subunits of material incorporated into a bale and, based thereon, assigning a weighted average quality value to the overall bale. A baler receives, aggregates, compresses, shapes, and secures subunits of a plant material into a bale. An NIR testing system receives and analyzes near-infrared radiation reflected by the plant material, and generates subunit evaluation data reflecting properties of the material in the subunits. A computer receives and combines the subunit evaluation data to produce overall evaluation data reflecting properties of the bale, and assigns the overall evaluation data to the bale. Combining the subunit evaluation data includes assigning weights to the subunit evaluation data and then averaging the weighted subunit property values. Weighting may be based on the amount of time the NIR testing system is exposed to the material in each subunit, and the amount of time may be mechanically determined.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system incorporated into a baler machine configured to receive a plurality of subunits of a plant material, and to aggregate, compress, shape, and secure the plurality of subunits into a plurality of bales, the system comprising:

a near-infrared testing system configured to receive near-infrared radiation reflected by the plant material in at least two subunits of the plurality of subunits of at least one bale of the plurality of bales and to analyze the near-infrared radiation and generate subunit evaluation data reflecting one or more properties of the plant material in the at least two subunits of the plurality of subunits;
and
a computer configured to receive and combine the subunit evaluation data of the plant material in the at least two subunits of the plurality of subunits to produce overall evaluation data reflecting one or more overall properties for the at least one bale of the plurality of bales, and assign the overall evaluation data to the at least one bale of the plurality of bales.

A system comprising:

a baler machine configured to receive a plurality of subunits of a plant material, and to aggregate, compress, shape, and secure the plurality of subunits into a plurality of bales;
a near-infrared testing system configured to receive near-infrared radiation reflected by the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits in at least one bale of the plurality of bales and to analyze the near-infrared radiation and generate subunit evaluation data reflecting one or more properties of the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits;
and
a computer configured to receive and combine the subunit evaluation data of the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits to produce overall evaluation data reflecting one or more overall property values for the at least one bale of the plurality of bales, and assign the overall evaluation data to the at least one bale of the plurality of bales.

1 more element

A method comprising:

receiving, aggregating, shaping, and securing with a baler machine a plurality of subunits of a plant material into a plurality of bales;
receiving and analyzing with a near-infrared testing system near-infrared radiation reflected by the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits in at least one bale of the plurality of bales, and generating subunit evaluation data reflecting one or more properties of the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits in the at least one bale of the plurality bales;
receiving and combining with a computer the subunit evaluation data of the plant material in each subunit of the plurality of subunits in the at least one bale of the plurality of bales to produce overall evaluation data reflecting one or more overall property values for the at least one bale of the plurality of bales;
and
assigning with the computer the overall evaluation data to the at least one bale of the plurality of bales.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for assigning weighted average quality value to baled plant material

Life of this patent

System and method for assigning weighted average quality value to baled plant material

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20