Forage Harvester Control Coordination Across Working Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing forage harvesters operate working elements independently, leading to suboptimal utilization of the harvester's full performance capacity due to disregarded interactions between settings of different components.
Innovation Solution
A driver assistance system with a set of rules stored in its memory optimizes the operation of individual work components, considering interactions between working elements, and includes a dialogue module for operator guidance and remote control via a mobile device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If working elements are operated independently with autonomous closed control circuits, then each working element can be controlled automatically, but the full performance capacity of the forage harvester cannot be utilized due to disregarded interactions between settings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple autonomous control circuits into a unified control system that coordinates all working elements simultaneously. The control unit receives inputs from all sensors and processes them together to generate coordinated control signals for all actuators, enabling the system to consider interactions between different working elements while maintaining automatic control.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit serves multiple functions: it monitors all working elements, processes sensor data from the entire system, stores rule sets for coordination, and generates control signals for all actuators. This multi-functional approach allows the system to optimize overall performance while maintaining automatic control of individual components.
2Productivity
If multiple sensors and control units are integrated to consider interactions between working elements, then overall performance can be optimized, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit is designed as a multi-functional device that performs sensing data acquisition, processing, rule set storage, and actuator control simultaneously. This consolidation reduces the need for separate dedicated control units for each working element, managing system complexity while enabling coordinated optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary between sensors and actuators, processing information from multiple sensors and generating coordinated control signals for multiple actuators. This central mediation simplifies the system architecture compared to having direct point-to-point control connections between all components.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a forage harvester (1) comprising: - several working elements (30) for carrying out a crop processing process, - a driver assistance system (25) which has a memory (38) for storing data and a computing device (37) for processing data stored in the memory, as well as a graphical user interface (39), - wherein the working elements (30) have at least one adjustable crop handling device (31), at least one actuator (32) for adjusting and/or actuating the at least one crop handling device (31), and a control unit (33) for controlling the actuator (32), wherein the respective working element (30) is designed as an automatic setting device (A1, A2, A3, A4, An) and is integrated into the higher-level driver assistance system (25), wherein the driver assistance system (25) controls the operation of each automatic setting device (A1, A2, A3, A4,An) can be optimized on its own or depending on at least one other setting machine (A1, A2, A3, A4, An).