Large square baler with controllable feeder system

A baler implement comprising:

• a pick-up operable to gather crop material;
• a pre-compression chamber positioned to receive the crop material from the pick-up;
• a compression chamber positioned to receive the crop material from the pre-compression chamber and form the crop material into a bale;
• a crop sensor operable to sense data related to a quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber and generate a quantity signal;
• a feeder fork moveable relative to the pre-compression chamber between a retracted position in which the feeder fork is withdrawn from the pre-compression chamber to allow the crop material to accumulate within the pre-compression chamber, and an extended position in which the feeder fork protrudes into and moves through the pre-compression chamber to move the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber into the compression chamber;
• a lock moveable between an engaged position in which the lock is engaged with the feeder fork to secure the feeder fork in the retracted position, and a disengaged position in which the lock is disengaged from the feeder fork to allow movement of the feeder fork between the retracted position and the extended position thereof;
• an actuator coupled to the lock and operable to move the lock from the engaged position to the disengaged position in response to a lock release signal;
• a baler controller in communication with the crop sensor and the actuator, the baler controller having a processor and a memory having a feeder control algorithm stored thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the feeder control algorithm to:
• receive the quantity signal from the crop sensor related to the quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber;
• estimate the quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber from the quantity signal;
• and
• communicate the lock release signal to the actuator when the estimated quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber is equal to or greater than a quantity threshold.

A baler implement comprising:

• a pre-compression chamber;
• a compression chamber positioned to receive crop material from the pre-compression chamber and form the crop material into a bale;
• a crop sensor operable to sense data related to a quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber and generate a quantity signal when the quantity of the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber is equal to or greater than a quantity threshold;
• a feeder fork moveable relative to the pre-compression chamber between a retracted position in which the feeder fork is withdrawn from the pre-compression chamber to allow the crop material to accumulate within the pre-compression chamber, and an extended position in which the feeder fork protrudes into and moves through the pre-compression chamber to move the crop material accumulated within the pre-compression chamber into the compression chamber;
• a lock moveable between an engaged position in which the lock is engaged with the feeder fork to secure the feeder fork in the retracted position, and a disengaged position in which the lock is disengaged from the feeder fork to allow movement of the feeder fork between the retracted position and the extended position thereof;
• and
• an actuator coupled to the lock and operable to move the lock from the engaged position to the disengaged position in response to the quantity signal.