Autonomous Crop Trailer Transfer to Cut Elevator Wait Times
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Solution Overview
Problem
Crop transit times and unloading wait times are lengthy in crop receiving facilities, such as grain elevators, leading to reduced harvest efficiency due to their high costs and geographical sparsity.
Innovation Solution
A real-time marketplace for crop transfer is developed, incorporating a remote device with a job board that matches available drivers with loads using GPS, load weight, and moisture content data, and an autonomous vehicle-trailer system for efficient crop collection and transfer, enabling real-time tracking and ownership transfer upon purchase.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional crop receiving facilities (grain elevators) are used, then crops can be stored and processed, but transit times and unloading wait times become lengthy, reducing harvest efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the crop receiving function by deploying multiple mobile receiving facilities (trailers with augers and storage containers) across different geographic locations instead of relying on a single centralized facility. This allows farmers to access nearby receiving points, significantly reducing transit distances and wait times while maintaining storage and processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary real-time marketplace platform that connects crop sellers (farmers) with buyers (processors, storage facilities) and coordinates autonomous vehicle transport. This digital intermediary optimizes matching and logistics, reducing both transit time and unloading wait time while improving overall harvest efficiency.
2Ease of manufacture
If centralized crop receiving facilities are used, then infrastructure is consolidated, but the facilities become geographically sparse and expensive to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized receiving facility into multiple smaller, mobile units (trailers with augers and storage containers) that can be distributed across the geographic area. This segmentation reduces the cost of each individual facility while expanding overall coverage, as each mobile unit can be deployed to different locations as needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms static, fixed receiving facilities into dynamic, mobile units that can be moved and repositioned. The mobile trailers with augers and storage containers can be transported to different farm locations, providing flexible geographic coverage without the high infrastructure costs of building and maintaining fixed facilities in every area.
3Loss of time
If real-time marketplace and autonomous vehicle system are implemented, then transit and unloading times are reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal real-time marketplace platform that handles multiple functions: crop listing, buyer-seller matching, autonomous vehicle coordination, and transaction processing. This multi-functional system consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems, reducing overall complexity while achieving the goal of reduced transit and unloading times.
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous vehicle system performs self-service operations including autonomous navigation to pickup locations, self-loading of crops using integrated augers, and autonomous transport to destination. This automation eliminates the need for manual operation and coordination, reducing system complexity in terms of human intervention while achieving rapid transit and unloading.
Data Source
AI summary
A crop harvesting system for reducing crop unloading times. The system includes a real-time job market for crop load delivery. The system further includes a depot for crop drop off. In one example, a farmer transfers harvested crops into a trailer, a driver is notified via an app of a load meeting a predefined criteria, the trailer is transported to the depot and dropped off by the driver, a dump mule picks up the trailer, and the dump mule transfers the trailer to a storage container where the crop is stored.