Combine Harvester Cleaning Device Loosening Phase Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for controlling the crop separation process in combine harvesters rely on a purely mathematical model that inadequately accounts for changing harvest conditions, requiring extensive operator knowledge and limited adjustments to fan speed, leading to suboptimal separation efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using pairs of sensors to determine current crop deposition processes across the cleaning device, identifying loosening phases, and adjusting fan speed, air flow, and sieve opening widths to optimize separation, particularly in response to uneven crop distribution caused by inclinations in hilly or mountainous regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a purely mathematical model is used to control the crop separation process, then the control system is simple to implement, but it cannot adequately account for changing harvest conditions and requires extensive operator knowledge for adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback control system where sensors continuously monitor the actual separation process and feed this information back to the control unit. The control unit compares actual separation curves with ideal separation curves and automatically adjusts fan speed and other parameters to optimize separation performance under varying harvest conditions, eliminating the need for extensive operator knowledge and mathematical model adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system performs self-adjustment by automatically comparing actual separation data with ideal separation curves and modifying operating parameters without operator intervention. The system serves itself by detecting deviations and correcting them through automated fan speed control and separation element adjustment, making the system adaptable to changing conditions while maintaining ease of operation.
2Manufacturing precision
If fan speed is adjusted based on an initially defined ideal separation curve, then the separation process can be optimized, but the adjustment requires extensive operator knowledge and can only be changed to a small extent
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit continuously monitors actual separation curves using sensors and compares them with stored ideal separation curves. Based on this feedback, the system automatically adjusts fan speed and other parameters to maintain optimal separation efficiency, eliminating the need for operators to have extensive knowledge about mathematical model adjustments while achieving high separation precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual operator adjustment of fan speed and separation parameters with an automated electronic control system. The control unit processes sensor data and automatically modifies operating parameters, substituting the mechanical adjustment process with an electronic feedback control mechanism that requires no specialized operator knowledge while maintaining high separation efficiency.
3Measurement precision
If sensors are arranged to measure air flow cooling effect, then the air flow distribution can be determined, but the sensors cannot come into contact with the crop which limits measurement accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses air flow as an intermediary medium to indirectly measure crop deposition on separation elements. Sensors positioned below the separation elements detect air flow cooling effects, which serve as a mediator to infer crop distribution and separation performance without requiring direct contact between sensors and crop, thus maintaining measurement precision while avoiding contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces direct mechanical contact measurement (sensors touching crop) with an indirect thermal measurement method. By measuring air flow cooling effects on thermistors positioned away from the crop, the system substitutes direct physical contact with a thermal field-based measurement approach that achieves accurate crop deposition detection without sensor-crop contact.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for real-time optimization of the separation process, improving grain separation efficiency by identifying and adapting to different loosening phases, reducing grain losses, and enhancing the overall performance of the combine harvester.
Implementation Method 1
a blower (14) which generates an air flow to loosen the crop on it
Implementation Method 2
current deposition processes of the crop across the width of the cleaning device at points spaced apart from one another in the conveying direction
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a crop separation process of a combine harvester (1) with a separation device (4, 18) from which crop material is discharged to a cleaning device (5) which has at least one oscillatingly driven sieve (15, 16) with adjustable opening widths to separate the grain in the crop from non-grain components, and with a blower (14) by which the at least one sieve (15, 16) of the cleaning device (5) is supplied with an airflow to loosen the crop material on it, wherein essentially three different loosening phases (F, S, W) occur during the loosening of the crop, comprising the following method steps: - Determining current separation profiles (33A, 34A) of the crop material across the width of the cleaning device (5) at points spaced apart from each other in the conveying direction (FR), - Evaluating the currently determined separation profiles (33A,34A), - Detecting the loosening phase (F, S, W) present in the conveying direction (FR) by comparing the currently determined separation profiles (33A, 34A), and - Initiating at least one measure depending on the detected loosening phase (F, S, W), which leads to an optimization of the loosening on at least one section of the cleaning device (5).