Automatic combine harvester adjustment system

A combine harvester adjustment system for adjusting operating parameters including the sieve opening, chaffer opening, concave clearance, rotor speed and fan speed, said system comprising:

• a closed loop including,
• sensor means for sensing said sieve, chaffer, concave, rotor speed and fan speed and producing analog signals proportional thereto;
• analog to digital converter means responsive to said analog signals for producing digital signals;
• actuator means for changing said sieve opening, chaffer opening, concave opening, rotor speed and fan speed;
• and
• microprocessor means connected between said analog to digital converter means and said actuator means;
• a memory connected to said microprocessor for storing adjusting values;
• and
• a plurality of keys connected to said microprocessor,
• said microprocessor including means responsive to actuation of said keys for comparing adjusting values from said memory with the digital values from said converter means, and applying adjusting signals to said actuator means until said adjusting values and digital signals are equal.

In a combine harvester adjustment system having actuator means for adjusting at least one system operating parameter selected from the group comprising sieve opening, concave clearance, chaffer opening, rotor speed and fan speed, the improvement comprising:

• means for generating digital signals representing actual operating parameters;
• keyboard means for entering data relating to a desired setting of at least one of said parameters;
• output means for applying adjusting signals to at least one of said actuator means;
• and,
• means responsive to said keyboard means and said means for generating digital signals for comparing one of said operating parameters with the data entered at said keyboard and enabling said output means to apply adjusting signals to one of said actuator means until said one operating parameter is equal to said desired setting.

The method of adjusting operating parameters of a combine harvester automatically, said method comprising:

• storing sets of adjusting values, there being one set of adjusting values for each combination of a crop and a moisture level for that crop;
• each set of values including an adjusting value corresponding to each operating parameter;
• repetitively sensing said parameters to obtain the actual values thereof;
• selecting a crop and a moisture level to thereby select one of said sets of adjusting values;
• comparing the adjusting values in the selected one of said sets of adjusting values with said actual values;
• and,
• adjusting each operating parameter until the comparison between the actual value and adjusting value for that parameter indicates that the two are equal.