Guidance and control of vehicle travel path and components

#This is the U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/AU2012/001123, filed Sep. 19, 2012, which was published in English under PCT Article 21(2), which in turn claims priority to and the benefit of Australian Patent Application No. 2011903865, filed Sep. 20, 2011.

#This disclosure relates generally to vehicles and to guidance and control of such vehicles for controlling the travel path thereof or the positioning of components of the vehicle.

#The vehicle may be adapted for many applications. In one particular application the vehicle is suitable for use as a seeding apparatus and as a matter of convenience the following description will be with reference to that particular application. It is to be understood that this is not to be considered in any way a limitation on the disclosure as the vehicle may find application in other areas. Examples of other agricultural applications may include cultivators, harvesters, sprayers and mowers. The vehicle may also in certain applications be adapted to be attached to another vehicle so as to be towed.

#The accompanying drawings facilitate an understanding of the various embodiments.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary schematic view of a vehicle in accordance with one embodiment;

#FIG. 2 illustrates the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 from another angle;

#Referring to the drawings, there is shown a vehicle which in the particular form illustrated is a seeding apparatus 10. The seeding apparatus 10 comprises a chassis 12 having a forward end 14 and a rearward end 15 (FIG. 4A). At the forward end 14 there is a coupling hitch 16 for connecting the apparatus 10 to a leading vehicle 2000. The leading vehicle 2000 may be in the form of a tractor (only the wheels 5 and 6 of the tractor are illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3). The coupling hitch 16 may be configured for connection to a typical three point linkage of a tractor via a coupling 17.

#As best illustrated in FIG. 4A, the chassis 12 is in the form of an elongated frame 20 which includes parallel longitudinally extending beams 34 and 35 and a square or rectangular section 36 at the rearward end 15. The rectangular section 36 comprises side members 37 and cross members 38 (FIG. 5). As shown in FIG. 4A, a series of laterally extending cross beams 30, 31 and 32 are positioned towards the forward end 14. The laterally extending cross beams 30, 31 and 32 form a power unit support section 22 and the square or rectangular section 36 forms a seeder carriage assembly support section 24. The chassis 12 is shown as a frame however it could take other forms and as such the reference to a chassis is not limited to a frame.

#The vehicle 10 includes a traction drive which in this embodiment comprises a pair of drive wheels 1610 (see FIG. 16) which are adapted to be mounted to wheel mounts 52 and associated bearing sections 54. As shown in FIG. 4A, the drive wheels 1610 are steerable by steering mechanism 50 which includes steering arms 60 operatively connected to respective wheel mounts 52 and interconnected by cross bar 58. A steering actuator 62 in the form of a piston/cylinder 62 (shown in FIG. 1) causes movement of the cross bar 58 via connecting arm 64. The arrangement may form an Ackermann steering system.