Field work vehicle

Abstract

A field work vehicle for supplying an agricultural material to a field, comprising: a vehicle body; detection units (S1, S2, S3) that detect future failure in supply of the agricultural material to the field; and notification units (41, 16a) that notify the outside of the vehicle body of the detection results of the detection units (S1, S2, S3).

Description

Field work vehicle

[0001] The present invention relates to a field work vehicle that supplies agricultural materials to a field.

[0002] As a conventional field work vehicle, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, there is one that supplies agricultural materials such as seedlings to a field, and such a field work vehicle needs to be replenished with agricultural materials while traveling for work. When replenishment of agricultural materials is required, the field work vehicle moves to a replenishment position where replenishment will be performed.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2022-118897

[0004] Preparations for the supply of agricultural materials may be made at a supply location, but with conventional field work vehicles, it is difficult for a supply person performing such work to determine that agricultural materials need to be supplied until the field work vehicle begins traveling toward the supply location. As a result, it is difficult for the supply person to prepare for supply in advance, and they are unable to know in advance that agricultural materials need to be supplied, which can lead to delays in preparation for supply and the inability to carry out work travel efficiently.

[0005] Similarly, it is difficult for refuelers who refuel field work vehicles to determine in advance that refueling is necessary, and delays in preparing for refueling can prevent the vehicle from traveling efficiently.

[0006] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a field work vehicle that enables a supplier to know early on when agricultural materials cannot be supplied to a field due to the need for replenishment, etc., and enables efficient work travel.

[0007] The field work vehicle of the present invention is a field work vehicle that supplies agricultural materials to a field, and is equipped with a vehicle body, a detection unit that detects when the agricultural materials can no longer be supplied to the field, and an alarm unit that notifies the outside of the vehicle body of the detection result of the detection unit.

[0008] According to this invention, the detection result of the detector is notified to the outside of the vehicle body, so that, for example, a supplier preparing to supply agricultural materials at a supply location can be notified early that the agricultural materials will no longer be able to be supplied to the field. As a result, the supplier or repair worker can prepare in advance and can carry out work travel efficiently.

[0009] In the present invention, a storage section is provided for storing the agricultural materials, the detection section has a remaining amount detection section for detecting the remaining amount of the agricultural materials stored in the storage section, and the notification section preferably notifies the detection result of the remaining amount detection section.

[0010] With this configuration, a person outside the vehicle can be notified by the notification that the remaining amount of agricultural materials stored in the storage section is low, and can begin preparing the agricultural materials. As a result, replenishment work can be carried out efficiently.

[0011] In the present invention, it is preferable that the notification unit issues a notification when it is determined that the agricultural material needs to be replenished based on the detection result of the remaining amount detection unit.

[0012] With this configuration, even when the field work vehicle is in operation, if the detection result of the remaining amount detection unit determines that replenishment of agricultural materials is necessary, the system can immediately notify the user, allowing people outside the vehicle to quickly learn that the remaining amount of agricultural materials is low.

[0013] In the present invention, it is preferable that the notification section has a light-emitting section that can emit light, and that the light-emitting section emits light in a plurality of different light-emitting states depending on the detection result of the detection section.

[0014] With this configuration, even in a noisy environment, a person outside the vehicle body can know from the light that the field work vehicle is unable to supply agricultural materials to the field.

[0015] In the present invention, it is preferable that the light emitting section emits light in a plurality of display modes that differ depending on the detection results of the detecting section, as the plurality of light emitting states.

[0016] With this configuration, since the notification is made in a number of different display modes, it is possible to know, for example, whether the reason for the inability to supply agricultural materials to the field is a lack of seedlings or a lack of fertilizer, and as a result, a person outside the vehicle can know what supplies they need to prepare.

[0017] In the present invention, it is preferable that a headlight capable of emitting light is provided at a front end portion of the vehicle body in the traveling direction, and that the headlight is used as the light-emitting portion.

[0018] With this configuration, the headlights already installed in the farm work vehicle can be used as the notification unit, eliminating the need to install a new notification device. Furthermore, headlights generally emit a high level of light, making them easily visible to anyone outside the vehicle.

[0019] In the present invention, an engine and a fuel tank for storing fuel for the engine are provided, and it is preferable that the detection unit has a fuel detection unit that detects the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and the notification unit notifies the detection result of the fuel detection unit.

[0020] With this configuration, a person outside the vehicle body can be notified by the notification that the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank is low, which allows the person outside the vehicle body to begin preparations for refueling, thereby enabling the refueling work to be carried out efficiently.

[0021] It is a side view of the riding type rice transplanter. It is a plan view of the riding type rice transplanter. It is a block diagram of the control configuration. It is a flowchart of the notification control.

[0022] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the direction of arrow F in the drawings will be referred to as "front," the direction of arrow B as "rear," the direction of arrow L as "left," and the direction of arrow R as "right." Furthermore, the direction of arrow U in the drawings will be referred to as "up," and the direction of arrow D as "down."

[0023] [Overall configuration of the riding rice transplanter] The riding rice transplanter, which is an example of a field work vehicle according to this embodiment, will be described below. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the riding rice transplanter has a vehicle body 1 equipped with right and left front wheels 2 and right and left rear wheels 3.

[0024] A transmission case 4 is provided at the front of the vehicle body 1. An engine support frame 5 extending forward is connected to the transmission case 4. An engine E is supported on the engine support frame 5. The engine E is covered by a hood 6 provided at the front of the vehicle body 1.

[0025] A floor 7 is provided from the right and left sides of the hood 6 to the rear of the hood 6. A driver's seat 8 on which an operator can sit is provided at the rear of the floor 7. Left and right headlights 41 (an example of a "light-emitting portion") that can emit light are provided at the front end of the vehicle body 1 in the traveling direction.

[0026] A link mechanism 9 is provided at the rear of the vehicle body 1. The link mechanism 9 extends rearward and is configured to be able to swing up and down. The link mechanism 9 is provided with a hydraulic cylinder 10 that operates to raise and lower the link mechanism 9.

[0027] The rear of the vehicle body 1 is equipped with a fertilizer applicator 11 that supplies fertilizer (an example of "agricultural materials") to the rice field surface, and a seedling planting device 12 that can plant seedlings (an example of "agricultural materials") in the field.

[0028] The upper portion of the fertilizer applicator 11 is provided with a hopper 21 (an example of a "storage section") for storing fertilizer.

[0029] The seedling planting device 12 comprises a transmission case 22 connected to the rear end of the link mechanism 9 to transmit the driving force of the transmission shaft 13, a plurality of ground leveling floats 23, a seedling loading platform 24 (an example of a "storage section") on which mat-shaped seedlings are placed (stored), and a rotary planting arm 25 that operates with the driving force from the transmission case 22.

[0030] A chemical spraying device 14 is provided at the rear of the seedling planting device 12. The chemical spraying device 14 is a device that sprays chemicals such as herbicides (an example of an "agricultural material") onto a field. The chemical spraying device 14 is provided with a chemical hopper 15 (an example of a "storage unit") that stores the chemicals to be sprayed onto the field.

[0031] A pillar-shaped center mascot 16 is provided at the tip of the hood 6. The center mascot 16 is located at the center in the left-right direction of the vehicle body 1. A light-emitting lamp 16a is installed at the tip of the center mascot 16.

[0032] A plurality of spare seedling trays 17 capable of holding seedling boxes containing seedling mats (hereinafter referred to as "seedlings" and "seedling boxes") are arranged at the top of the right and left sides of the vehicle body 1. The spare seedling trays 17 are fixed to the vehicle body 1 and supported by a pair of front and rear support pillars 18 extending in the vertical direction. The front support pillar 18 stands upright from the engine support frame 5 of the vehicle body 1. The rear support pillar 18 stands upright from a portion of the vehicle body 1 above the front wheels 2.

[0033] The vehicle is equipped with a positioning device 19 that can receive radio signals from positioning satellites used in GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation System, e.g., GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, etc.) and acquire position information over time. The riding rice transplanter of the present invention can acquire and store the travel route during seedling planting work using the positioning device 19, and can set a target travel route parallel to the stored route. After setting the target travel route in this way, the vehicle body 1 can be automatically steered to travel along the target travel route.

[0034] [Regarding the detection unit and the notification unit] As shown in Figure 3, the riding rice transplanter is equipped with a control unit 51, a sensor S1 (an example of a "detection unit" and a "remaining amount detection unit") that detects the remaining amount of fertilizer stored in the hopper 21, a sensor S2 (an example of a "detection unit" and a "remaining amount detection unit") that detects the remaining amount of chemical agent stored in the chemical agent hopper 15, and a sensor S3 (an example of a "detection unit" and a "remaining amount detection unit") that detects the remaining amount of mat-like seedlings placed on the seedling carrier 24 of the seedling planting device 12.

[0035] Sensors S1 to S3 detect the remaining amount of agricultural materials such as fertilizer, pesticides, and seedlings over time, and are configured to be able to detect, for example, when the remaining amount of agricultural materials is running low, i.e., when the agricultural materials can no longer be supplied to the field.

[0036] The control unit 51 is configured to be able to acquire information from the sensors S1 to S3. When the control unit 51 determines, based on the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3, that the remaining amounts of fertilizer, chemicals, or seedlings are low and that replenishment of these is necessary, it controls the headlights 41 to emit light. In this embodiment, the headlights 41 are used as a notification unit that notifies the outside of the vehicle body 1. With this configuration, for example, a worker waiting on the perimeter of a field can be notified by the headlights 41 that replenishment of agricultural materials such as fertilizer is necessary, and can make preparations to replenish the agricultural materials.

[0037] The control unit 51 controls the headlights 41 to emit light in a plurality of display modes (in this embodiment, blinking patterns) as a plurality of light-emitting states that differ depending on the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3. In this embodiment, when the control unit 51 determines that seedling replenishment is necessary, the control unit 51 causes the headlights 41 to emit light so that they blink twice every predetermined time. Similarly, when the control unit 51 determines that fertilizer replenishment is necessary, the control unit 51 causes the headlights 41 to emit light so that they blink three times every predetermined time, and when the control unit 51 determines that chemical replenishment is necessary, the control unit 51 causes the headlights 41 to emit light so that they blink four times every predetermined time. With this configuration, for example, a worker waiting on the perimeter of a field can know which agricultural materials need to be replenished.

[0038] [Control Flow] The control unit 51 is configured to perform control in accordance with the control flow shown in FIG.

[0039] The control unit 51 acquires the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3 (step St01).

[0040] The control unit 51 determines whether or not any agricultural materials need to be replenished based on the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3 (step St02). If it determines that no agricultural materials need to be replenished, the process returns to step St01.

[0041] If it is determined in step St02 that agricultural materials need to be replenished, the control unit 51 causes the headlights 41 to emit light in a blinking pattern corresponding to the agricultural materials that need to be replenished (step St03).

[0042] After the headlights 41 are turned on, the process returns to step St01.

[0043] Other Embodiments Hereinafter, other embodiments in which the above-described embodiment is modified will be described.

[0044] (1) In the above embodiment, the headlights 41 are used as light-emitting units for providing warnings to the outside of the vehicle body 1. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the lamps 16a of the center mascot 16 may be used as light-emitting units. Also, instead of light-emitting units, a sound generating unit may be provided, and warnings may be provided to the outside of the vehicle body 1 by emitting sounds.

[0045] In addition, if turn signals are provided on the left and right sides of the front and rear of the vehicle body 1, the turn signals may be used as light-emitting elements to notify the outside of the vehicle body 1, instead of or together with the headlights 41.

[0046] (2) In the above embodiment, the control unit 51 controls the headlights 41 to emit light when it determines, based on the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3, that the remaining amounts of fertilizer, chemicals, and seedlings are low and that replenishment of these is necessary. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the control unit 51 may be configured to control the headlights 41 to emit light when, based on the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3, there are sufficient amounts of fertilizer, chemicals, and seedlings remaining. In other words, the control unit 51 may be configured to notify the detection results of the sensors S1 to S3 that there are sufficient agricultural supplies remaining.

[0047] (3) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the headlight 41 is configured to emit light in a plurality of different flashing patterns depending on whether fertilizer, chemicals, or seedlings need to be replenished. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the headlight 41 may be configured to emit light in a plurality of different flashing patterns depending on the remaining amount of agricultural materials (for example, “full,” “low amount,” “empty,” etc.) based on the detection results of sensors S1 to S3.

[0048] (4) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the headlight 41 is configured to emit light in a display form of multiple flashing patterns to indicate whether fertilizer, chemicals, or seedlings need to be replenished. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the headlight 41 may be configured to emit light in a display form of multiple changes in the color of light to indicate whether fertilizer, chemicals, or seedlings need to be replenished.

[0049] (5) The engine E may be provided with a sensor (an example of a detection unit, a fuel detection unit) that detects the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank that stores the fuel, and a sensor (an example of a detection unit) that detects a malfunction of the engine E, and the control unit 51 and the notification unit may be configured to notify the detection results of these sensors.

[0050] The configurations disclosed in the above embodiments (including other embodiments, the same applies hereinafter) can be applied in combination with the configurations disclosed in other embodiments, unless a contradiction occurs. Furthermore, the embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the purpose of the present invention.

[0051] The present invention can be applied to a field work vehicle that supplies agricultural materials to a field.

[0052] 1: Vehicle body 15: Chemical hopper (storage section) 21: Hopper (storage section) 24: Seedling tray (storage section) 41: Headlight (alert section, light-emitting section) E: Engine S1: Sensor (detection section, remaining amount detection section) S2: Sensor (detection section, remaining amount detection section) S3: Sensor (detection section, remaining amount detection section)

Claims

1. A field work vehicle that supplies agricultural materials to a field, comprising: a vehicle body; a detection unit that detects when the agricultural materials can no longer be supplied to the field; and an alarm unit that notifies the outside of the vehicle body of the detection result.

2. A field work vehicle as described in claim 1, further comprising a storage section for storing the agricultural materials, the detection section having a remaining amount detection section for detecting the remaining amount of the agricultural materials stored in the storage section, and the notification section for notifying the detection result of the remaining amount detection section.

3. The farm work vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the notification unit issues an alert when it is determined that replenishment of the agricultural materials is necessary based on the detection result of the remaining amount detection unit.

4. A field work vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the notification unit has a light-emitting unit capable of emitting light, and the light-emitting unit emits light in a plurality of different light emission states depending on the detection result of the detection unit.

5. A farm work vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the light emitting section emits light in a plurality of different display modes corresponding to the detection results of the detection section as the plurality of light emitting states.

6. A farm work vehicle as claimed in claim 4, wherein a headlight capable of emitting light is provided at the front end of the vehicle body in the direction of travel, and the headlight is used as the light-emitting part.

7. A field work vehicle as described in claim 1, comprising: an engine; and a fuel tank for storing fuel for the engine, wherein the detection unit has a fuel detection unit which detects the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank, and the notification unit which notifies the detection result of the fuel detection unit.

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