A device and control method for adjusting the height of a combine header of an automatic harvester

By adjusting the height of the harvester's header in real time through sensing devices and a control system, the problem of high operational difficulty and low safety of existing harvesters in complex environments has been solved, achieving automated, stable, and efficient header adjustment.

CN118489426BActive Publication Date: 2025-11-07JIANGSU UNIV
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202410624968.5
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2024-05-20
Publication Date
2025-11-07
Estimated Expiration
2044-05-20

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing harvesters have difficulty adjusting the header height flexibly in complex operating environments, resulting in high operational difficulty and potential injury to machines and personnel. Furthermore, current technology cannot flexibly adjust the local header height according to the working environment.

Method used

The system uses sensors to detect the ground height in real time, and controls the hydraulic cylinders to extend or lift the entire harvesting device through the control system, so as to adjust the height of the header in part or in whole. Combined with the flexible header unit and hydraulic system, it uses a soil-breaking wheel to handle obstacles.

Benefits of technology

It achieves automated adjustment of header height, reduces manual operation, avoids header damage, and improves the stability and safety of harvesters in complex environments.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The application provides a device and a control method for adjusting the height of a harvesting header of an automatic harvester, comprising a harvester body, a harvesting device, a control system, a hydraulic cylinder and the control system; the harvesting device comprises a plurality of parallel flexible header units, at least one flexible header unit is connected between two flexible header units on both sides of the flexible header unit through an extension rod, and the bottoms of the two flexible header units are respectively connected with the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder through a fixing plate; the two ends of the extension rod are respectively hinged with the fixing plates at the bottoms of the two flexible header units; the other end of the hydraulic cylinder is connected with a soil breaking wheel; an induction device is installed on each flexible header unit; and the control system judges and controls the stretching of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder or the lifting of the overall harvesting device according to the ground height in front of the flexible header unit. The application can adjust the height of the local header and the overall header, and is suitable for various working environments.
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Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of intelligent agricultural management, and in particular to a device for adjusting the height of a cutting platform of an automatic harvester and a control method. BACKGROUND

[0002] China is a large agricultural country, and not only wheat and rice are the main food crops, but edible beans have also become an essential economic source for Chinese farmers. How to more efficiently harvest edible beans plays a crucial role in the development of China's agriculture.

[0003] With the progress of science and technology, and the application of science and technology in agriculture, various agricultural implements are constantly improved. In other words, with the continuous progress of science and technology, people are constantly improving the development of agriculture to change the way of farming, so as to achieve better agricultural production efficiency. Further, today's agriculture has broken away from the backward mode of relying entirely on manpower for farming. Today's agriculture from sowing, plant protection to harvesting and other links almost completely relies on agricultural machinery equipment to complete. Modern agriculture can be said to have entered the era of mechanization. In particular, today's agricultural machinery not only improves the production conditions of agricultural cultivation, but also replaces people's heavy labor, and can also use agricultural machinery to work in environments that are not suitable for people to work. In other words, the mechanization of agriculture improves the efficiency of agricultural production, brings great convenience to farmers, and plays an important role in the process of rapid development of agriculture.

[0004] The harvester is the main harvesting machinery of farmland in China and even the world. The efficiency of the harvester determines whether the agricultural crops can be harvested faster, and the liberation of manpower can save certain labor costs. However, the current harvester is still in the stage of completely relying on the operation of the driver. In particular, the harvester used in paddy fields needs to change the forward speed and cutting platform height of the machine at any time in the face of complex working environment. Such operation is difficult and the driver has a heavy burden. It may cause damage to the machine and personnel due to untimely or incorrect operation; in addition, the existing technology proposes to adjust the cutting platform height of the harvester as a whole, and cannot flexibly adjust the local cutting platform height according to the working environment. SUMMARY

[0005] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present application provides a device for adjusting the height of a cutting platform of an automatic harvester and a control method. The sensing device can sense the ground height in real time, the control system can determine the control of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder stretching or the lifting of the overall harvesting device according to the ground height in front of the flexible cutting platform unit, and the local cutting platform height or the overall cutting platform height can be adjusted according to the actual situation to ensure that the cutting knife of the cutting platform is not damaged.

[0006] The present application achieves the above technical purpose through the following technical means.

[0007] A device for adjusting the height of a harvesting header of an automatic harvester, comprising a harvester body, a harvesting device, a control system, a hydraulic cylinder and a control system; the harvester body is provided with a lifting harvesting device at one end,

[0008] The harvesting device comprises a plurality of parallel flexible header units, each of which can be independently cut; at least one flexible header unit is connected between the flexible header units on both sides of the flexible header unit through an extension rod, and the bottoms of the flexible header units on both sides are respectively connected to the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder through a fixed plate; the extension rod is hingedly connected to the fixed plates at both ends of the flexible header units on both sides; the other end of the hydraulic cylinder is connected to a soil breaking wheel;

[0009] An induction device is installed on each flexible header unit for measuring the ground surface height in front of the corresponding flexible header unit; the control system controls the stretching of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder or the lifting of the overall harvesting device according to the ground surface height in front of the flexible header unit.

[0010] Further, the induction device comprises a camera, an infrared distance sensor and a probe, the camera is used to identify the type and height of the obstacle, the infrared distance sensor measures the distance from the flexible header unit to the ground; the probe is used to determine the hardness of the obstacle, which assists in identifying the type of obstacle.

[0011] Further, when the hydraulic cylinder is stretched upward to lift the height of the flexible header unit, the extension rod extends in the lifting direction of the fixed plate; when the hydraulic cylinder is shortened downward to lower the height of the flexible header unit, the extension rod is synchronously retracted.

[0012] Further, when the induction device on one flexible header unit measures and identifies that there is a protruding obstacle in front, the obstacle is a non-rock type soil block, and the height is less than the design value, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder is applied with back pressure, and the soil breaking wheel 5 is used to crush the obstacle; if the flexible header unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder close to the flexible header unit on both sides is controlled to lift, so as to make the flexible header unit in an inclined state.

[0013] Further, when the sensing device on the flexible header unit measures and identifies that there is a protruding obstacle in front, the obstacle is rock or hard rock, or the height of the obstacle is greater than the design value, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder is controlled to lift, for avoiding the flexible header unit from colliding with the obstacle, and the harvester body is controlled to deviate to one side, for the hydraulic cylinder at the bottom of the flexible header unit to avoid the obstacle; if the flexible header unit has no hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinders close to the two sides of the flexible header unit are controlled to lift, for avoiding the flexible header unit from colliding with the obstacle; if the difference between the height of the flexible header unit and the height of the obstacle exceeds the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder, the whole harvesting device 3 is controlled to lift.

[0014] Further, the design value is the vertical height of the obstacle of 0.5-0.6.

[0015] A control method of a device for adjusting the height of a header of an automatic harvester, comprising the following steps:

[0016] The sensing device on the flexible header unit obtains the image of the obstacle and the hardness of the obstacle, the control system determines the type and the vertical height h of the obstacle by using image technology in combination with the hardness of the obstacle; the sensing device measures the distance D of the flexible header unit to the ground;

[0017] If the type of the obstacle is non-rock soil block, and the vertical height h of the obstacle is less than or equal to 0.5-0.6D, when the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder is applied with back pressure, and the obstacle is crushed by the soil crushing wheel; if the flexible header unit has no hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder close to the two sides of the flexible header unit is controlled to lift, for the flexible header unit to be in an inclined state;

[0018] If the type of the obstacle is rock or hard rock, or only the vertical height h of the obstacle is greater than 0.5-0.6D, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder is controlled to lift, for avoiding the flexible header unit from colliding with the obstacle, and the harvester body is controlled to deviate to one side; if the flexible header unit has no hydraulic cylinder at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinders close to the two sides of the flexible header unit are controlled to lift, for avoiding the flexible header unit from colliding with the obstacle; if D-h is greater than the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder, the whole harvesting device is controlled to lift.

[0019] When the obstacle is crossed, the hydraulic cylinder corresponding to the lifting is reset.

[0020] The present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0021] 1. The device for adjusting the height of the cutting table of the automatic harvester according to the present application, the sensing device can sense the ground height in real time, the control system judges the control of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder stretching or the lifting of the overall harvesting device according to the ground height in front of the flexible cutting table unit, the local cutting table height or the overall cutting table height can be adjusted according to the actual situation, and the cutting knife of the cutting table is guaranteed not to be damaged.

[0022] 2. The device for adjusting the height of the cutting table of the automatic harvester according to the present application, the soil crushing wheel made of metal material and having protruding lines on the surface can crush small soil blocks on the travel route of the harvester, and the stability of the harvester during travel is guaranteed.

[0023] 3. The device for adjusting the height of the cutting table of the automatic harvester according to the present application, which can realize automatic operation without manual operation, and effectively liberate manual labor.

[0024] 4. The device for adjusting the height of the cutting table of the automatic harvester according to the present application, which can adjust the local cutting table height and the overall cutting table height, and is suitable for various working environments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0025] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiment or prior art description. The drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained without creative labor on the basis of these drawings.

[0026] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the automatic harvester structure according to the present application;

[0027] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the initial state of the cutting table according to the present application;

[0028] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the state 1 of the cutting table according to the present application;

[0029] Figure 4 The schematic diagram of the state 2 of the cutting table according to the present application;

[0030] Figure 5 The working principle diagram of the cutting table adjusting system according to the present application;

[0031] In the drawings:

[0032] 1 - harvester body; 2 - control system; 3 - harvesting device; 3-1 - flexible cutting table unit; 3-2 - fixed plate; 4 - hydraulic cylinder; 5 - soil crushing wheel; 6 - sensing device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein the same or like component have the same or similar designations. The embodiments described below are exemplary in nature, and are intended to be illustrative of the present application rather than to limit the same.

[0034] In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the orientations or positional relationships indicated by the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "axial", "radial", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are merely intended to facilitate the description of the present application and simplify the description, and therefore cannot be understood as indicating or implying that the devices or elements indicated must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application. In addition, the terms "first", "second" are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited.

[0035] In the present application, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connection", "connecting", "fixing" and the like should be understood broadly, for example, can be fixedly connected, can be detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically connected, or electrically connected; can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or can be the communication inside two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0036] As Figure 1 The device for adjusting the height of the cutting platform of the automatic harvester according to the present application comprises a harvester body 1, a control system 2, a harvesting device 3 and a hydraulic cylinder 4; the control system 2 is connected with the harvesting device 3, the automatic harvester automatically adjusts the position of the cutting platform of the harvesting device 3 through the control system 2, so as to reduce the operation difficulty and the burden of the driver, and to ensure that the harvester and related elements will not cause damage to the machine and personnel due to untimely operation or operation failure, the ground height change is measured through the sensing device 6, and the detection result is fed back to the control system 2, the control system 2 adjusts the height of the cutting platform of the harvesting device 3 during the travel of the harvester according to the feedback result, so as to avoid damage to the cutting platform due to the ups and downs of the ground.

[0037] As Figure 2As shown, the harvesting device 3 in the present application includes several parallel flexible cutterbar units, each of which can realize independent cutting, and each of which includes a pair of movable and fixed teeth, and cutting is realized through the movement of the movable teeth. At least one flexible cutterbar unit is connected between the flexible cutterbar units on both sides of the flexible cutterbar unit through a telescopic rod, and the bottoms of the flexible cutterbar units on both sides are respectively connected to the stretching rods of the hydraulic cylinders 4 through the fixing plates 3-2; the telescopic rod is hinged to the fixing plates 3-2 at the bottoms of the flexible cutterbar units on both sides at both ends. The other end of the hydraulic cylinder 4 is connected to the soil crushing wheel 5; the inductive device 6 is installed on each flexible cutterbar unit, and is used to measure the ground height in front of the corresponding flexible cutterbar unit. The control system 2 judges and controls the stretching of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder 4 or the lifting of the overall harvesting device 3 according to the ground height in front of the flexible cutterbar unit. The soil crushing wheel 5 is made of metal and has protruding lines on the surface, and can easily crush non-rock soil blocks.

[0038] As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 When the inductive device 6 installed on a flexible cutterbar unit measures and identifies that there is a protruding obstacle in front (i.e. the obstacle is located on the walking path), and the obstacle is a non-rock soil block, if the flexible cutterbar unit has a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the obstacle can be crushed by applying back pressure to the hydraulic cylinder 4 and using the soil crushing wheel 5; if the flexible cutterbar unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder 4 close to the two sides of the flexible cutterbar unit is controlled to lift, so that the flexible cutterbar unit is in an inclined state, and the obstacle can be avoided.

[0039] When the inductive device 6 installed on a flexible cutterbar unit measures and identifies that there is a protruding obstacle in front, and the obstacle is a rock or hard rock. If the flexible cutterbar unit has a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder 4 is controlled to lift, so as to avoid the flexible cutterbar unit from colliding with the obstacle, and the harvester body 1 is controlled to deviate to one side, so that the hydraulic cylinder 4 avoids the obstacle; if the flexible cutterbar unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder 4 close to the two sides of the flexible cutterbar unit is controlled to lift, so as to avoid the flexible cutterbar unit from colliding with the obstacle. If the difference between the height of the flexible cutterbar unit and the height of the obstacle exceeds the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 4, the overall harvesting device 3 is controlled to lift.

[0040] In the embodiment, the inductive device 6 includes a camera, an infrared distance sensor and a probe, the camera is used to identify the type and height of the obstacle, the infrared distance sensor measures the distance from the flexible cutterbar unit to the ground, and the probe is used to determine the hardness of the obstacle and assist in identifying the type.

[0041] As shown in Figure 2 , Figure 3As shown, when the hydraulic cylinder 4 is extended upward to raise the height of the flexible header unit, the telescopic rod is extended along the fixed plate 3-2 in the direction of raising; when the hydraulic cylinder 4 is shortened downward to lower the height of the flexible header unit, the telescopic rod is retracted synchronously.

[0042] The control method, in particular,

[0043] The sensing device 6 on one flexible header unit obtains the image of the obstacle and the hardness of the obstacle, and the control system 2 determines the type and vertical height h of the obstacle by combining the image technology with the hardness of the obstacle; the sensing device 6 measures the distance D from the flexible header unit to the ground.

[0044] If the type of the obstacle is non-rock soil, and the vertical height h of the obstacle is less than or equal to 0.5-0.6D, and the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder 4 is controlled to apply back pressure to crush the obstacle by the soil crushing wheel 5; if the flexible header unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the telescopic rod of the hydraulic cylinder 4 close to the two sides of the flexible header unit is controlled to lift, so that the flexible header unit is in an inclined state to avoid the obstacle.

[0045] If the type of the obstacle is rock or hard rock, or only the vertical height h of the obstacle is greater than 0.5-0.6D, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the telescopic rod of the hydraulic cylinder 4 is controlled to lift to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle, and the harvester body 1 is controlled to deviate to one side to let the hydraulic cylinder 4 avoid the obstacle; if the flexible header unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder 4 at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder 4 close to the two sides of the flexible header unit is controlled to lift to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle. If D-h is greater than the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 4, the entire harvesting device 3 is controlled to lift.

[0046] When the obstacle is crossed, the raised hydraulic cylinder 4 is reset.

[0047] It should be understood that although the present specification is described in terms of various embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution, and the description of the specification is only for the sake of clarity, and those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that those skilled in the art can understand.

[0048] The series of detailed descriptions listed above are only specific descriptions of feasible embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application, and any equivalent embodiments or changes made without departing from the spirit of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An apparatus for adjusting the height of a header of an automatic harvester, characterized in that Including the harvester body (1), harvesting device (3), hydraulic cylinder (4) and control system (2);The harvester body (1) one end is equipped with the harvesting device (3) that can be lifted, The harvesting device (3) includes several parallel flexible header units (3-1), each flexible header unit (3-1) can be independently cut;At least one flexible header unit (3-1) is connected between the flexible header unit (3-1) on both sides of the flexible header unit (3-1) through the telescopic rod, and the bottom of the flexible header unit on both sides is connected through the fixed plate (3-2) and the stretching rod of the hydraulic cylinder (4) respectively;The both ends of the telescopic rod are hinged with the fixed plate (3-2) at the bottom of the flexible header unit (3-1) on both sides respectively;The other end of the hydraulic cylinder (4) is connected with the soil crushing wheel (5); Each flexible header unit (3-1) is provided with a sensing device (6) for measuring the ground height in front of the corresponding flexible header unit (3-1);The control system (2) judges and controls the stretching of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder (4) or the lifting of the overall harvesting device (3) according to the ground height in front of the flexible header unit (3-1), as follows: When the sensing device (6) on one flexible header unit (3-1) measures and identifies that there is a convex obstacle in front, the obstacle is non-rock soil block, and the height is less than the design value, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder (4) is controlled to be lifted to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle, and the harvester body (1) is controlled to be offset to one side to avoid the hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom of the flexible header unit from the obstacle;If the flexible header unit has no hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the stretching rods of the hydraulic cylinders (4) near the two sides of the flexible header unit are controlled to be lifted to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle;If the difference between the height of the flexible header unit (3-1) and the height of the obstacle exceeds the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder (4), the overall harvesting device (3) is controlled to be lifted. The sensing device (6) includes a camera, an infrared distance sensor and a probe, the camera is used to identify the type and height of the obstacle, the infrared distance sensor measures the distance from the flexible header unit to the ground, and the probe is used to determine the hardness of the obstacle to assist in identifying the type of the obstacle.

2. The device for adjusting the height of a combine header of an automatic harvester according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the hydraulic cylinder (4) is stretched upward to lift the height of the flexible header unit, the telescopic rod extends along the lifting direction of the fixed plate (3-2);When the hydraulic cylinder (4) is shortened downward to reduce the height of the flexible header unit, the telescopic rod is synchronously contracted.

3. The device for adjusting the height of a combine header of an automatic harvester according to claim 1, characterized in that, ​ 4. The device for adjusting the height of a combine header of an automatic harvester according to claim 1, characterized in that, The design value of the vertical height of the obstacle is 0.5-0.

6.

5. A control method for the device for adjusting the height of the header of an automatic harvester according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The method comprises the following steps: The sensing device (6) on the flexible header unit acquires the image of the obstacle and the hardness of the obstacle, and the control system (2) determines the type and the vertical height h of the obstacle by combining the image technology with the hardness of the obstacle; the sensing device (6) measures the distance D from the flexible header unit to the ground; If the type of the obstacle is non-rock soil, and the vertical height h of the obstacle is less than or equal to 0.5-0.6D, when the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the obstacle is crushed by the crushed soil wheel (5) by applying back pressure to the hydraulic cylinder (4); if the flexible header unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the stretch rod of the hydraulic cylinder (4) near the two sides of the flexible header unit is controlled to be lifted, so that the flexible header unit is in an inclined state; If the type of the obstacle is rock or hard rock, or only the vertical height h of the obstacle is greater than 0.5-0.6D, if the flexible header unit has a hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the stretch rod of the hydraulic cylinder (4) is controlled to be lifted to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle, and the harvester body (1) is controlled to be offset to one side; if the flexible header unit does not have a hydraulic cylinder (4) at the bottom, the hydraulic cylinder (4) near the two sides of the flexible header unit is controlled to be lifted to avoid the collision between the flexible header unit and the obstacle; if D-h is greater than the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder (4), the whole harvesting device (3) is controlled to be lifted; When the obstacle is crossed, the lifted hydraulic cylinder (4) is reset.

Citation Information

Patent Citations

  • Intelligent controller of combine harvester

    CN114631426A