Agricultural Implement Ground Clearance Control for Obstacle Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural machinery, particularly implements like pick-ups, face challenges in reacting quickly to obstacles such as ditches during harvesting due to increased speed and size, leading to structural damage and harvesting halts, which existing solutions like stiffer structures and larger wheels increase weight and cost.
Innovation Solution
An agricultural machinery system with actuators and sensors to adjust the implement's ground clearance based on real-time ground profiling, using control units to lift or lower the implement to avoid obstacles, reducing the risk of damage and maintaining harvesting efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If stiffer and more rigid structures are used for the implement and its mount, then the implement can prevent damages to the implement when encountering obstacles, but the weight and size of the implement increases which also increases manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor detects obstacles in advance before the implement reaches them, allowing the control unit to activate the actuator early enough to lift the implement over the obstacle. This preliminary detection and reaction prevents damage without requiring the implement to be overly rigid or heavy, as the system proactively avoids collisions rather than relying on structural strength to withstand them.
Solution Approach 2:
The implement's ground clearance is made dynamically adjustable through the actuator controlled by the control unit. Instead of using a fixed rigid structure, the system continuously adapts the implement's position based on real-time sensor input, allowing it to lift over obstacles while maintaining lightweight construction. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between damage prevention and weight reduction.
2Reliability
If larger guiding or support wheels are used to enable the implement to follow a ground profile, then the implement can prevent damages to the implement, but the weight and size of the implement increases which also increases manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical solution of larger guiding wheels with an automated control system consisting of a sensor, control unit, and actuator. The sensor detects obstacles and the control unit processes this information to activate the actuator, which lifts the implement over obstacles. This substitution eliminates the need for oversized mechanical guiding structures while achieving the same protective function.
3Productivity
If the implement is lowered to follow ground profile closely, then harvesting productivity increases, but the implement cannot react quickly enough to obstacles causing structural damage
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor provides continuous feedback about the ground profile and obstacles to the control unit, which adjusts the implement's position in real-time. This feedback loop allows the implement to maintain close ground clearance for high productivity while simultaneously being able to detect and react to obstacles, lifting over them when necessary. The feedback mechanism resolves the contradiction between maintaining low ground clearance and being able to react to obstacles.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating an agricultural machinery with an implement. The agricultural machinery includes at least one actuator for lifting and lowering the implement relative to a ground sur-face of a field, and at least one sensor being arranged at a predetermined distance ahead of and away from the implement in a harvesting direction of the agricultural machinery. The agricultural machinery further include a control unit configured to receive sensor signals from the at least one sensor and to operate the actuator. The method includes the steps of a) determining the ground profile ahead of the implement in the harvesting direction by the at least one sensor analyzing the determined ground profile by the control unit, and c) selectively causing the actuator to lift or lower the implement by the control unit according to the result of the analyzing step.