Bale presence sensing for round baler
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorDANIEL E. DERSCHEID
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A round baler implement includes a housing and a gate rotatably attached to the housing for rotation about a gate rotation axis, between a closed position and an open position. An object detection sensor is positioned to detect data related to an object positioned vertically below the gate when the gate is disposed in the open position, and communicate a data signal indicative of the detected data. A baler controller determines the presence of an object positioned below the gate that may interfere with movement of the gate from the open position into the closed position, and then communicates a control signal when the object is determined to be positioned to interfere with movement of the gate to prevent the gate from closing onto the object.
Claims20
A round baler implement comprising:
- a support structure;
- a plurality of ground engaging elements coupled to the support structure for moveably supporting the support structure relative to a ground surface;
- a housing attached to the support structure;
- a gate rotatably attached to the housing for rotation about a gate rotation axis between a closed position and an open position;
- an object detection sensor positioned to detect data related to an object positioned vertically below the gate when the gate is disposed in the open position, and communicate a data signal indicative of the detected data;
- a baler controller having a processor and a memory including an object detection algorithm stored thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the bale detection algorithm to:
- receive the data signal from the object detection sensor;
- determine the presence of an object positioned below the gate, from the data signal, that may interfere with movement of the gate from the open position into the closed position;
- and
- communicate a control signal when the object is determined to be positioned to interfere with movement of the gate from the open position into the closed position to prevent the gate from closing onto the object.
A baling system comprising:
- a tow vehicle coupled to a round baler implement for moving the round baler implement across a ground surface, wherein the round baler implement includes:
- a housing;
- a gate rotatably attached to the housing for rotation about a gate rotation axis between a closed position and an open position;
- a gate actuator selectively controllable to move the gate between the open position and the closed position;
- an object detection sensor positioned to detect data related to an object positioned vertically below the gate when the gate is disposed in the open position, and communicate a data signal indicative of the detected data;
- a baler controller having a processor and a memory including an object detection algorithm stored thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the bale detection algorithm to:
- receive the data signal from the object detection sensor;
- determine the presence of an object positioned below the gate, from the data signal, that may interfere with movement of the gate from the open position into the closed position;
- communicate an actuator control signal to the gate actuator for controlling the gate actuator to maintain the gate in the open position when the object is determined to be positioned to interfere with movement of the gate from the open position into the closed position to prevent the gate from closing onto the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.