Harvester feedrate control with tilt compensation
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsBruce Alan Coers, Daniel James Burke, William F. Cooper, Jerry Dean Littke, Karl-Heinz O. Mertins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A combine with a throughput dependent speed control includes an angle sensor responsive to uphill, downhill and sidehill slopes. When the combine is angled from a level position, harvest speed is lowered to prevent grain losses from increasing above a target level. The control continuously learns tilt angle, loss and throughput correlation, and the speed reduction is selected based upon the learned correlation. In the preferred embodiment, throughput is estimated utilizing rotor variable drive actuator pressure (RVDAP), and a target RVDAP is modified for short periods of time in accordance with the learned correlation.
Claims22
In a harvester having a frame supported by wheel structure for forward movement through a field of standing crop having uphill, downhill and sidehill slopes, a crop processing structure supported by the frame and connected to a processor drive, wherein rate of material flow to the processing structure is dependent on harvester forward speed and wherein a harvest quality variable of the harvester is dependent on the forward speed of the harvester and the tilt of the harvester from a level position, a speed control comprising:
- a throughput transducer providing a throughput signal indicative of the rate of material flow;
- a tilt transducer providing a harvester tilt signal;
- a controller providing a throughput target for harvester operation in the level position and responsive to the throughput signal for adjusting the forward speed of the harvester;
- and
- wherein the controller is also responsive to the tilt signal to modify the throughput target to automatically reduce harvester speed and generally maintain the harvest quality variable within a desired range as the harvester moves over the slopes.
In a harvester having a frame supported by wheel structure for forward movement through a field of standing crop having uphill, downhill and sidehill slopes, a crop processing structure supported by the frame and connected to a processor drive, wherein rate of material flow to the processing structure is dependent on harvester forward speed and wherein a harvest quality variable of the harvester is dependent on the forward speed of the harvester and the tilt of the harvester from a level position, a speed control comprising:
- a throughput transducer providing a throughput signal indicative of the rate of material flow;
- a tilt transducer providing a harvester tilt signal;
- a controller providing a throughput target for harvester operation in the level position and responsive to the throughput signal for adjusting the forward speed of the harvester to generally maintain the harvest quality variable within a desired range;
- and
- wherein the controller includes a processor for learning tilt and harvest quality variation correlation, wherein the controller is responsive to the learned correlation to automatically adjust the harvester speed in dependence on the tilt signal, the amount of adjustment of speed being dependent on the learned correlation to generally maintain the quality variable with the desired range.
A method for controlling operation of a harvester for harvesting a crop in a field having slopes, the harvester having a harvest quality variable dependent on tilt of the harvester from a level condition, the harvester having an electronic speed control for automatically adjusting harvester speed, wherein the harvesting speed establishes a harvester throughput, and harvest quality is also dependent on the throughput, the method comprising:
- establishing a desired speed for operating the harvester on level conditions, the desired speed depending on a target throughput;
- maintaining the harvester speed generally at the desired speed to maintain the target throughput;
- detecting harvester tilt;
- and
- modifying the target throughput to reduce the harvester speed automatically, when harvester tilt is detected, as a function of the detected harvester tilt to reduce variations in the harvest quality variable as the harvester tilts from the level condition on the slopes.
In a combine a harvest control system including a speed control maintaining a generally constant crop throughput while the combine is harvesting crop, including an angle sensor responsive to the operation of the combine on slopes and providing a tilt signal to the speed control, wherein a crop harvest quality variable is dependent on crop throughput and combine tilt, a crop quality sensor providing a crop harvest quality signal to the speed control, and wherein the speed control is responsive to the crop harvest quality signal to adjust combine speed and vary throughput, the speed control additionally responsive to the tilt signal to automatically reduce combine speed in dependence on the combine tilt to maintain a generally constant harvest quality variable when the combine is operating on slopes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.