System and method for controlling the base cutter height of a sugar cane harvester

Abstract

A system, and the method of operation and use thereof, for controlling and adjusting the height of a base cutter of a sugar cane harvester, during a harvesting operation, and without the necessity for continuous user intervention and adjustment, to maintain the height of the cut at approximately a desired height, including a control system that has a processor unit which is operable under program control during a harvesting operation, following initiation of program operation by a machine operator, to simultaneously monitor both the detected base cutter height and the detected cutting resistance encountered by the harvester as it traverses a particular ground track, and, based upon such detected conditions, to automatedly control the adjustment of the height of the harvester chassis above the ground surface so that the cutting apparatus of the base cutter unit is continuously adjusted to cut at approximately the desired cutting height, within an acceptable vertical movement range or bandwidth, during the course of the harvesting cut operation.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001]The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling and adjusting the height of a harvesting implement of a harvesting machine, especially a base cutter of a sugar cane harvester, during a harvesting operation, and without the necessity for continuous user intervention and adjustment. The system and method can be utilized to position the base cutter unit at an optimal height for harvesting and to thereafter automatically control the positioning of the base cutter unit relative to the ground surface during operation, without the necessity for active user intervention and adjustments. Such system and method permits the machine chassis height to be automatically adjusted to account for soil irregularities and to secure more efficient and productive harvesting of a crop.[0002]The invention is particularly applicable to machines such as sugar cane harvesters that are provided with a base cutter unit attached to the machine chassis and can be effecti...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0026]However, in the event that an overpressure condition is detected, the processor will operate to communicate to the chassis height adjustment system a control signal to effect an operation thereby to raise the height of the chassis by a predetermined increment, and will thereafter re-initiate the cyclical checks.

[0027]If no overpressure condition is detected, but the cutting apparatus is determined to be at a height outside of the acceptable vertical movement range, the processor will operate to communicate to the chassis height adjustment system a control signal to effect an operation thereby to adjust the height of the chassis by a predetermined increment, and will thereafter re-initiate the cyclical checks. If the detected height of the cutting apparatus is determined to be above the predetermined upper level limit for the vertical movement range, the processor will operate to communicate to the chassis height adjustment system a control signal to effect an operation thereby to lower the height of the chassis by a predetermined increment, and will thereafter re-initiate the cyclical checks. On the other hand, if the detected heig

Problems solved by technology

If the harvest cut is made above the ideal cut height, the higher than desirable cut will result in harvest losses in the form of unharvested raw material, perhaps occasioning the need for an additional harvesting cut to try to try to recover the remaining unharvested raw material, with additional expenditures of time and additional wear and tear upon the harvesting equipment, or the loss of revenue from the unharvested raw material.

If the harvest cut is made below the ideal cut height, various, other, undesirable consequences may result.

A harvest cut below the ideal height will not only result in increased damage to the plant, thereby decreasing the long term productivity of the cane plantation, but also in higher mineral levels in the harvested cane, and will cause increased damage to the base cutter knives, resulting in accelerated wear of such knives due to the constant wear against the soil.

Such wear against the soil reduces productivity due to the need for more frequent stoppages of the machine for maintenance and for knife changes into fixed or floating base cutter units, and also results in higher motor and energy costs and greater waste since the equipment is required to operate in adverse or less than desirable conditions.

However, even a good operator's ability to accurately monitor and track soil irregularities, especially over an extended period of time and from a vantage point distanced to some degree from the cutting knives, is limited, and soil and other environmental conditions can compound the difficulties.

Especially if the soil is not well prepared, it is difficult for the operator to accurately adjust, in an ongoing manner, the height of the cutting knives so as to, on the one hand, avoid raw material losses, generally of the richest portion of the plant, yet, on the other hand, avoid premature wear of the base cutter knives and minimize the feeding of minerals.

In practice, however, due to system design constraints and in order to prevent damage to the harvesting machine and its components, movement of the base cutter unit relative to the chassis is limited to some maximum such that, if a significant irregularity in the ground contour is encountered, excessive displacement of the base cutter unit relative to the chassis is blocked by a respective windowsill or movement limit that is generally associated with the machine chassis.

Consequently, when ground irregularities that exceed the machine's design capabilities are encountered, the base cutter unit cannot be moved sufficiently to be able to properly track and follow the ground track irregularity and the desired work height cannot be maintained.

However, such adjustment in the chassis height also effects a change in the nominal work height as established by the

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