A trimmer and trimming method with automatic height adjustment

Abstract

The application discloses a height-adjustable sugarcane stub cutter and a stub cutting method. The stub cutter comprises a rack, a stub cutting device arranged on the rack and a lifting device for driving the stub cutting device to perform lifting movement. The stub cutting device comprises a support, a stub cutting mechanism arranged on the support and a feeding mechanism for feeding the stub of the sugarcane into the stub cutting mechanism. The stub cutting mechanism comprises a stub cutting cutter, a stub cutting blade arranged on the stub cutting cutter and a stub cutting driving mechanism for driving the stub cutting cutter to rotate. The stub cutter can automatically adjust the height, thereby ensuring the stub cutting effect. In addition, the stub cutter has compact structure and occupies small space.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of sugarcane intelligent cutting, in particular to a cutting device capable of automatically adjusting height and a cutting method. BACKGROUND

[0002] During the mechanized harvesting of sugarcane, the cutting device installed at the front end of the harvester is used to cut the cane stubs. If the cutting device cannot reasonably cut the cane stubs according to the agronomic requirements, it will cause the impurity rate to increase during the harvesting process, the harvesting loss to increase, and other problems, thereby affecting the subsequent sugar production process of the sugar factory. Therefore, it is necessary to complete the cutting of the cane according to the growth conditions and regional characteristics of sugarcane in China.

[0003] First, sugarcane is an important raw material for sugar production in China, mainly planted in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and other regions. These regions are mostly hilly and mountainous areas, and large-scale sugarcane harvesters are not suitable for hilly and mountainous areas. Therefore, small and micro sugarcane harvesters with more compact structures need to be developed. The lifting mechanism of the cutting device on the sugarcane harvester in China is mostly driven by hydraulic pressure, and the lifting mechanism is driven by a hydraulic cylinder to complete the adjustment of the height of the cutting device. However, this structure will cause the overall cutting device to occupy too much space, which cannot meet the overall size requirements of small and micro sugarcane harvesters.

[0004] Second, the height of the cutting device is manually adjusted by the driver. However, due to the different growth conditions and different degrees of lodging of the sugarcane in the field, the height of the cane stubs is inconsistent, and the growth points are tightly wrapped in the leaf sheath and difficult to identify, thereby making it difficult for the driver to determine the reasonable cutting height, resulting in unsatisfactory cutting effect and low efficiency. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a cutting device capable of automatically adjusting height, which can automatically adjust its height to ensure its cutting effect, and the structure size of the cutting device is more compact and occupies less space.

[0006] The second object of the present application is to provide a cutting method capable of automatically adjusting height.

[0007] The technical solution of the present application to solve the above technical problems is:

[0008] A cutting device capable of automatically adjusting height, comprising a rack, a cutting device arranged on the rack, and a lifting device for driving the cutting device to make lifting movement, wherein the cutting device comprises a support, a cutting mechanism arranged on the support, and a feeding mechanism for feeding the cane stubs into the cutting mechanism, wherein the cutting mechanism comprises a cutting knife disc, a cutting blade arranged on the cutting knife disc, and a cutting drive mechanism for driving the cutting knife disc to rotate.

[0009] Preferably, the feeding mechanism is two groups, and the two groups of feeding mechanisms are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the cutting mechanism, and the three are not on the same straight line.

[0010] Preferably, each group of feeding mechanisms includes coaxially arranged upper and lower dial plates and a feeding drive mechanism for driving the upper and lower dial plates to rotate synchronously.

[0011] Preferably, the two sides of the cutting mechanism are provided with arc-shaped guide plates.

[0012] Preferably, the lifting device includes a gantry arranged on the frame, a lifting frame arranged on the support, a gear and rack transmission mechanism arranged between the gantry and the lifting frame, and a lifting drive mechanism for driving the gear in the gear and rack transmission mechanism to rotate, wherein the rack in the gear and rack transmission mechanism is vertically installed on the gantry, the gear is rotatably connected to the lifting frame and engaged with the rack.

[0013] Preferably, the gear and rack transmission mechanism is two groups, and the two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are arranged side by side, and the gears in each group of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are two groups, and the two groups of gears are vertically arranged; the two groups of gears in the two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are connected by shafts, and the lifting drive mechanism is used to drive the lower shaft to rotate.

[0014] Preferably, the lifting device further includes a lifting guide mechanism, and the lifting guide mechanism is two groups, and the two groups of lifting guide mechanisms are arranged side by side; each group of lifting guide mechanisms includes a guide column arranged on the gantry and a guide seat arranged on the guide column, wherein the guide seat is provided with a guide hole matched with the guide column.

[0015] Preferably, the frame is further provided with a depth camera D435i and a displacement sensor, wherein the depth camera D435i is used to detect the cutting height of the sugarcane; the displacement sensor is arranged on the lifting frame and is used to detect the real-time cutting height.

[0016] A cutting method with automatic height adjustment, comprising the following steps:

[0017] S1, the sugarcane harvester moves into the sugarcane field;

[0018] S2, the real-time cutting height detected by the displacement sensor and the cutting height of the sugarcane detected by the depth camera D435i are sent to the automatic cutting height control adjustment system in the Siemens PLC, and then the lifting device drives the cutting device to lift, so as to automatically adjust the height of the cutting device;

[0019] S3, when the cutting device reaches the specified cutting height, the feeding mechanism on both sides gathers the cane stubble at the cutting knife disc of the cutting mechanism; at the same time, the cutting driving mechanism drives the cutting blade to rotate, completing the cutting of the stubble;

[0020] S4, the feeding mechanism discharges the cut stubble outside the machine frame.

[0021] Preferably, the cutting height automatic control adjustment system comprises a cane cutting height line extraction module and a cutting height automatic adjustment control module.

[0022] The extraction process of the cane cutting height line extraction module is as follows: after the construction of the yolov5s target detection model to complete the detection frame of the cane stubble top feature, the center point of the upper frame of the detection frame is calculated and output, and then the least square method is used to linearly fit the detected feature points to extract the cane cutting height reference line; the height value of the cane cutting height reference line is output in real time through the coordinate conversion function of the depth camera D435i, the length of the cane tail stubble is determined according to the field cane variety, and the height value of the cane cutting height reference line is subtracted by the length value of the cane tail stubble, so that the cutting height of the cane is obtained.

[0023] The cutting height automatic adjustment module is used to compare the cutting height value h1 in the last frame of the real-time detection image and the cutting height value h2 in the next frame of the real-time detection image in the host computer through the combination of the depth camera D435i and the yolov5s target detection model; if the difference between h1 and h2 is within the range of 5CM, h1 is kept as the cutting height value H and output; if the difference between h1 and h2 is outside the range of 5CM, h2 is output as the cutting height value H; the communication between the host computer and the lower computer Siemens PLC is realized by using the snap7 communication protocol, the cutting height value H detected by the depth camera D435i in real time is transmitted to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC, the position height value H1 of the current cutting device detected by the stretching displacement sensor is transmitted to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC; the height automatic adjustment program designed in the Siemens PLC is run, and the program running process is to compare the H and H1 values received in the built-in data block, if H is less than H1, the Siemens PLC outputs a control signal, and the lifting device drives the cutting device to descend to the specified height H; if H is greater than H1, the Siemens PLC outputs a control signal, and the lifting device drives the cutting device to rise to the specified height H.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following advantages and beneficial effects:

[0025] 1. The height-adjustable cutting device of the present application drives the cutting device to rise and fall through the lifting device, thereby adjusting the height of the cutting device, ensuring the height adjustment capability and efficiency, reducing the space occupied by the cutting device in the entire sugarcane harvester, and the length, width and height of the cutting device structure are 900mm, 1470mm and 1500mm respectively, which is more suitable for the size requirements of small and micro sugarcane harvesters.

[0026] 2. The height-adjustable cutting method of the present application extracts the cutting height value of sugarcane in real time through the machine vision method, adjusts the cutting height automatically through the cutting height automatic control adjustment system, and realizes the real-time automatic adjustment of the cutting device height by using the Siemens PLC design control program, thereby reducing the operation intensity of the driver during the cutting process and improving the cutting efficiency during the sugarcane harvesting process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0027] Figures 1-3 Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional structure schematic diagram of the height-adjustable cutting device of the present application from three different perspectives.

[0028] Figure 4 Fig. 1 is a front view.

[0029] Figure 5 Fig. 1 is a side view.

[0030] Figure 6 Fig. 1 is an image processing process diagram of the sugarcane cutting height line extraction module.

[0031] Figure 7 Fig. 1 is a Siemens PLC control program diagram.

[0032] Figure 8 Fig. 1 is a cutting device height automatic adjustment workflow diagram. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The present application will be further described in detail below in combination with examples and drawings, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0034] Reference Figures 1-8The height-adjustable cutting device comprises a frame 1, a cutting device 6 arranged on the frame 1, and a lifting device 3 for driving the cutting device 6 to perform lifting movement, wherein the cutting device 6 comprises a support, a cutting mechanism 5 arranged on the support, and a feeding mechanism 4 for feeding the cane stubs into the cutting mechanism 5, wherein the feeding mechanism 4 is two groups, and the two groups of feeding mechanisms 4 are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the cutting mechanism 5, and the three are not on the same straight line; each group of feeding mechanisms 4 comprises coaxially arranged upper and lower poking finger plates 402 and 403, and a feeding drive mechanism 401 for driving the upper and lower poking finger plates 402 and 403 to rotate synchronously; the cutting mechanism 5 comprises a cutting knife disc 502, a cutting blade 503 arranged on the cutting knife disc 502, and a cutting drive mechanism 501 for driving the cutting knife disc 502 to rotate.

[0035] In the embodiment, the cutting drive mechanism 501 and the feeding drive mechanism 401 are both hydraulic motors.

[0036] Referring to Figures 1-8 Both sides of the cutting mechanism 5 are provided with arc-shaped guide plates 7, and the cut cane stubs are discharged to the outside of the cane harvester through the guide plates 7 by the upper and lower poking finger plates 402 and 403 in the feeding mechanism 4, so as to prevent the cut cane stubs from being blocked in the cutting device, thereby improving the working performance of the cutting device.

[0037] Referring to Figures 1-8 The lifting device 3 comprises a portal frame 2 arranged on the frame 1, a lifting frame 305 arranged on the support, a gear and rack transmission mechanism arranged between the portal frame 2 and the lifting frame 305, and a lifting drive mechanism 303 for driving the gear 304 in the gear and rack transmission mechanism to rotate, wherein the rack 301 in the gear and rack transmission mechanism is vertically installed on the portal frame 2, the gear 304 is rotationally connected to the lifting frame 305 and engaged with the rack 301; wherein the gear and rack transmission mechanism is two groups, and the two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are arranged side by side, and the gears 304 in each group of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are two groups, and the two groups of gears 304 are vertically arranged; the two groups of gears 304 in the two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are connected through the shafts 302, and the lifting drive mechanism 303 is used for driving the lower shaft 302 to rotate.

[0038] In the embodiment, the lifting driving mechanism 303 also adopts a hydraulic motor; the lower rotating shaft 302 is driven to rotate by the lifting hydraulic motor, so as to drive the two sets of gears 304 on the rotating shaft 302 to rotate and move along the extension direction of the rack 301, so as to drive the cutting tip device 6 to lift; in order to ensure the precision of the lifting movement of the cutting tip device 6, the lifting device 3 further comprises two sets of lifting guide mechanisms which are arranged side by side; each set of lifting guide mechanism comprises a guide column arranged on the gantry 2 and a guide seat arranged on the guide column, wherein the guide seat is provided with a guide hole matched with the guide column.

[0039] Referring to Figures 1-7 , the rack 1 is further provided with a depth camera D435i and a pull rope displacement sensor 8, wherein the depth camera D435i is used to detect the cutting tip height of the sugarcane; the pull rope displacement sensor 8 is arranged on the lifting frame 305 and is used to detect the real-time height of the cutting tip device.

[0040] Referring to Figures 1-7 , in the mechanized harvesting, the real-time height of the cutting tip device detected by the displacement sensor 8 and the height value of the field sugarcane cutting tip height line detected by the depth camera D435i combined with the target detection model in the upper computer are sent to the designed cutting tip height automatic control program in the lower computer (i.e. the Siemens PLC), and then the three-position four-way hydraulic electromagnetic reversing valve is controlled to drive the lifting hydraulic motor to drive the rotating shaft 302 to move for forward and reverse rotation, and then the gear 304 moves up and down on the rack 301, so as to realize the automatic adjustment of the height of the cutting tip device 6. At the same time, when the cutting tip device 66 reaches the specified cutting tip height, the feeding hydraulic motor drives the upper and lower dial finger plates 402 and 403 to rotate synchronously, so as to gather the sugarcane tips at the cutting tip cutter 502 of the cutting tip mechanism 5; at the same time, the cutting tip hydraulic motor drives the cutting blade 503 to rotate, so as to complete the cutting work of the sugarcane tips. Finally, the rotation of the upper and lower dial finger plates 402 and 403 in the feeding mechanism 4 is driven, and at the same time, the cut sugarcane tips are discharged outside the gantry 2 through the guide of the guide plate 7.

[0041] Referring to Figures 1-8 , the automatic height-adjustable cutting tip method of the application comprises the following steps:

[0042] S1, the sugarcane harvester moves to the sugarcane field;

[0043] S2, the real-time height of the cutting tip device detected by the displacement sensor 8 and the cutting tip height of the sugarcane detected by the depth camera D435i are sent to the cutting tip height automatic control adjustment system in the Siemens PLC, and then the lifting device drives the cutting tip device 6 to lift, so as to adjust the height of the cutting tip device 6.

[0044] S3, when the cutting device 6 reaches the specified cutting height, the feeding mechanism 4 on both sides gathers the sugarcane stubs at the cutting knife disc 502 of the cutting mechanism 5; at the same time, the cutting driving mechanism 501 drives the cutting blade 503 to rotate, completing the cutting of the stubs;

[0045] S4, the feeding mechanism 4 discharges the cut stubs outside the frame 1.

[0046] Referring to Figures 6-8 , the cutting height automatic control adjustment system comprises a sugarcane cutting height line extraction module and a cutting height automatic adjustment control module.

[0047] Referring to Figure 6 , the extraction process of the sugarcane cutting height line extraction module is as follows: after the detection frame of the top feature of the cane stub is detected by constructing a yolov5s target detection model in the upper computer, the center point of the upper frame of the detection frame is calculated and output, and then the detected feature points are linearly fitted by using the least square method to extract the sugarcane cutting height reference line; the height value of the cutting height reference line is output in real time by the coordinate conversion function of the depth camera D435i, the length of the sugarcane tail stub is determined according to the field sugarcane variety, and the cutting height line of the sugarcane is obtained by subtracting the length of the sugarcane tail stub from the height value of the cutting height reference line.

[0048] Referring to Figure 7 , the cutting height automatic adjustment module is used to compare the cutting height value h1 extracted from the last frame of the detection image in the real-time detection picture with the cutting height value h2 extracted from the next frame of the detection image in the upper computer by combining the depth camera D435i with the yolov5s target detection model; if the difference between h1 and h2 is within the range of 5CM, h1 is kept as the cutting height H and output; if the difference between h1 and h2 is outside the range of 5CM, h2 is output as the cutting height H. The sugarcane cutting height value output module is used to realize the communication between the upper computer and the lower computer Siemens PLC by using the snap7 communication protocol, transmit the cutting height value H detected by the depth camera D435i in real time to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC, and transmit the position height value H1 detected by the stretching displacement sensor 8 to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC; the height automatic adjustment program designed in the Siemens PLC is run, and the program running process is to compare the H and H1 values received by the built-in data block, if H is less than H1, the Siemens PLC outputs a control signal, and the lifting device drives the cutting device 6 to descend to the specified height H; if H is greater than H1, the Siemens PLC outputs a control signal, and the lifting device drives the cutting device 6 to rise to the specified height H.

[0049] The above is the preferred embodiment of the present application, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited by the above, and any change, modification, substitution, combination, simplification, etc. made without departing from the spirit and principles of the present application shall be equivalent replacement and included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A height-adjustable trimmer, characterized by The cane cutting device comprises a rack, a cutting device arranged on the rack, and a lifting device for driving the cutting device to perform lifting movement, wherein the cutting device comprises a support, a cutting mechanism arranged on the support, and a feeding mechanism for feeding the cane stub into the cutting mechanism; the cutting mechanism comprises a cutting disc, a cutting blade arranged on the cutting disc, and a cutting driving mechanism for driving the cutting disc to rotate. The cutting height automatic control adjustment system comprises a cane cutting height line extraction module and a cutting height automatic adjustment module, wherein the extraction process of the cane cutting height line extraction module is as follows: after a detection frame of a cane stub top feature is detected by constructing a yolov5s target detection model, the center point of the upper frame of the detection frame is calculated and output, then the detected feature points are linearly fitted by using a least square method to extract a cane cutting height reference line; the height value of the cane cutting height reference line is output in real time by using the coordinate conversion function of a depth camera D435i, the length of a cane tail stub is determined according to the field cane variety, and the length of the cane tail stub is subtracted from the height value of the cane cutting height reference line to obtain the cutting height of the cane; the cutting height automatic adjustment module is used for comparing the cutting height value h1 in the last frame of detection image with the cutting height value h2 in the next frame of detection image in the real-time detection picture process in the host computer by combining the depth camera D435i and the yolov5s target detection model; if the difference between h1 and h2 is within the range of 5 cm, h1 is kept as the cutting height value H and output; if the difference between h1 and h2 is outside the range of 5 cm, h2 is taken as the cutting height value H and output; the communication between the host computer and the lower computer Siemens PLC is realized by using the snap7 communication protocol, the cutting height value H detected by the depth camera D435i in real time is transmitted to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC, the position height value H1 of the current cutting device detected by the stretching displacement sensor is transmitted to the built-in data block of the Siemens PLC, and the height automatic adjustment program designed in the Siemens PLC is run, wherein the program running process is to compare the H and H1 values received in the built-in data block, if H is less than H1, the control signal of the Siemens PLC is output, the lifting device drives the cutting device to descend to the specified height H, and if H is greater than H1, the control signal of the Siemens PLC is output, the lifting device drives the cutting device to ascend to the specified height H.

2. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 1, wherein The feeding mechanism is two groups, and the two groups of feeding mechanisms are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the cutting mechanism and are not on the same straight line.

3. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 1, wherein Each group of feeding mechanisms comprises coaxially arranged upper and lower finger plates and a feeding driving mechanism for driving the upper and lower finger plates to synchronously rotate.

4. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 1, wherein Arc-shaped guide plates are arranged on the two sides of the cutting mechanism.

5. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 1, wherein The lifting device comprises a portal frame arranged on a rack, a lifting frame arranged on a support, a gear and rack transmission mechanism arranged between the portal frame and the lifting frame, and a lifting driving mechanism for driving rotation of a gear in the gear and rack transmission mechanism, wherein a rack in the gear and rack transmission mechanism is vertically mounted on the portal frame, the gear is rotationally connected to the lifting frame and engages with the rack.

6. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 5, wherein The gear and rack transmission mechanism is two groups, two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are arranged side by side, and the gears in each group of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are two groups, which are vertically arranged; the two groups of gears in the two groups of gear and rack transmission mechanisms are connected by shafts respectively, and the lifting driving mechanism is used for driving rotation of the lower shaft.

7. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 5, wherein The lifting device further comprises a lifting guide mechanism, which is two groups, and the two groups of lifting guide mechanisms are arranged side by side; each group of lifting guide mechanism comprises a guide column arranged on the portal frame and a guide seat arranged on the guide column, wherein the guide seat is provided with a guide hole matched with the guide column.

8. The self-height-adjustable cutter according to claim 5, wherein The rack is further provided with a depth camera D435i and a displacement sensor, wherein the depth camera D435i is used for detecting the cutting height of sugarcane; the displacement sensor is arranged on the lifting frame and is used for detecting the real-time height of the cutting.

9. A method for trimming the length of a tobacco rod in an automatically height-adjustable trimming device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The method comprises the following steps: S1, the sugarcane harvester moves into the sugarcane field; S2, the real-time height of the cutting detected by the displacement sensor and the cutting height of the sugarcane detected by the depth camera D435i are sent to the automatic cutting height control adjustment system in the Siemens PLC, and then the lifting device drives the cutting device to lift to automatically adjust the height of the cutting device; S3, when the cutting device reaches the specified cutting height, the feeding mechanism on both sides gathers the sugarcane stubble at the cutting knife disc of the cutting mechanism; at the same time, the cutting driving mechanism drives the cutting blade to rotate, and the cutting of the stubble is completed; S4, the feeding mechanism discharges the cut stubble outside the rack.

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