Sensor arrangement for combine harvester

A method for measuring a thickness of a layer of a grain/residue mixture in a cleaning arrangement of an agricultural harvesting vehicle comprising a cleaning arrangement and a sensor arrangement for measuring a thickness of a layer of a grain/residue mixture in the agricultural harvesting vehicle, the sensor arrangement comprising one or more sensors, each comprising a support structure and a plurality of sensor elements mounted as a stack of sensor elements on the support structure, wherein the one or more sensors are mounted in the cleaning arrangement so that at least a portion of the stack of sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors may be buried in or in close proximity to the layer of the grain/residue mixture, and wherein the sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors are configured to measure an electrical property that changes as a function of immediate surroundings of the sensor elements;

• the sensor arrangement further comprising read-out means for reading out the sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors independently from each other, the method comprising steps of:
• transporting the layer of the grain/residue mixture on a support surface of the cleaning arrangement, past one of the one or more sensors,
• measuring outputs of the sensor elements provided in the one or more sensors,
• detecting one or more changes in values of the outputs of the sensor elements of the one or more sensors as a function of their position in the stack of sensor elements provided in each of the one or more sensors, and
• estimating a thickness of the layer at a location of each of the one or more sensors, by estimating positions of the detected one or more changes,
• wherein the measuring step is synchronised with a reciprocating movement of a component of the cleaning arrangement onto which the one or more sensors are mounted.

A method for measuring a thickness of a layer of a grain/residue mixture in a cleaning arrangement of an agricultural harvesting vehicle comprising a cleaning arrangement and a sensor arrangement for measuring a thickness of a layer of a grain/residue mixture in the agricultural harvesting vehicle, the sensor arrangement comprising one or more sensors, each comprising a support structure and a plurality of sensor elements mounted as a stack of sensor elements on the support structure, wherein the one or more sensors are mounted in the cleaning arrangement so that at least a portion of the stack of sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors may be buried in or in close proximity to the layer of the grain/residue mixture, and wherein the sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors are configured to measure an electrical property that changes as a function of immediate surroundings of the sensor elements;

• the sensor arrangement further comprising read-out means for reading out the sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors independently from each other, the method comprising steps of:
• transporting the layer of the grain/residue mixture on a support surface of the cleaning arrangement, past one of the one or more sensors,
• measuring outputs of the sensor elements provided in the one or more sensors,
• detecting multiple changes in values of the outputs of the sensor elements of the one or more sensors as a function of their position in the stack of sensor elements of each of the one or more sensors, the multiple changes indicating an appearance of a segregated layer, and
• estimating thicknesses of sub layers of the layer from estimated positions of the multiple changes.