Harvester Feed Component Control for Uneven Crop Intake on Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural harvesters face challenges in accommodating varying crop material ingestion rates across the width of the harvesting implement, particularly during turns, leading to inefficiencies and increased load on the harvester.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that includes first and second crop feed components with independent actuators, controlled by a computing system using sensor data to adjust the speed of these components based on the direction and ground speed of the harvester, ensuring the outside component on a turn operates at a greater rate than the inside, thereby accommodating the increased crop material ingestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the harvesting implement operates with uniform crop feed component speeds, then the system structure is simple, but the implement cannot accommodate varying crop material ingestion rates across its width during turns
Solution Approach 1:
The harvesting implement is divided into multiple independently controllable crop feed components (e.g., left and right sides) with separate actuators. This segmentation allows each component to operate at different speeds tailored to local crop material ingestion rates, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity by enabling differentiated control where needed while maintaining a relatively simple overall system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from static uniform speed operation to dynamic speed adjustment based on real-time operating conditions. The independent actuators enable each crop feed component to dynamically adapt its speed according to the local crop material ingestion rate, particularly during turns, thereby achieving adaptability without requiring a fundamentally complex control system.
2Productivity
If crop feed components operate at higher speeds to handle increased crop material during turns, then productivity is improved, but energy consumption and system load increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing the speed of all crop feed components, the system applies speed increases only to the specific components experiencing higher crop material ingestion rates (e.g., the outside component during a turn). This local quality approach maintains productivity where needed while minimizing energy consumption and system load by avoiding unnecessary speed increases in other components.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the operational parameters (speeds) of individual crop feed components based on real-time conditions. By adjusting speeds as needed rather than maintaining high speeds universally, the system achieves high productivity during critical operations while minimizing overall energy consumption and system load during normal operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A harvesting implement for an agricultural harvester includes a frame and an auger rotatably supported on the frame. Furthermore, the harvesting implement includes a first crop feed component configured to direct a first portion of crop material from a field toward the auger and a second crop feed component spaced apart from the first crop feed component in a lateral direction that is perpendicular to a direction of travel of the harvesting implement, with the second crop feed component configured to direct a second portion of the crop material to the auger. In this respect, when the harvesting implement travels along a turn, one of the first or second crop feed components on an outside of the turn is driven at a greater rate than the other of the first or second crop feed components.