Harvester Route Control for Predicted Grain Tank Unloading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural harvesting machines face inefficiencies due to difficulties in determining when the clean grain tank is full and predicting where it will reach capacity, leading to suboptimal deployment of harvesting machines and haulage units, resulting in increased downtime and operational inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A control system that generates a machine path definition for agricultural harvesting machines, identifying a rendezvous point for haulage vehicles based on the machine path, fill level, and predicted crop yield, allowing for efficient routing and unloading of harvested crops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If harvesters operate without real-time coordination with haulage units, then equipment can work independently, but downtime increases due to waiting for unloading
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements real-time feedback by continuously monitoring the fill level of the clean grain tank and communicating this information to both the harvester operator and nearby haulage units. This feedback loop enables dynamic coordination where haulage units can position themselves optimally and harvesters can adjust their operation to minimize idle waiting time.
Solution Approach 2:
A communication system acts as an intermediary between the harvester and multiple haulage units, relaying information about tank fill status, harvester location, and haulage unit positions. This intermediary enables coordinated action without requiring direct operator-to-operator communication, reducing downtime through automated information exchange.
2Productivity
If multiple haulage units operate in a field, then unloading capacity increases, but coordination complexity increases leading to potential mismatches
Solution Approach 1:
Each haulage unit is equipped with communication capabilities that allow it to autonomously receive information about harvester needs and navigate to appropriate positions. The system enables self-service coordination where haulage units independently manage their positioning and unloading sequences based on real-time data, reducing the complexity of manual coordination while maintaining high unloading capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates information copies of the harvester's fill status and location data and distributes them to all nearby haulage units. This copying approach allows multiple haulage units to have identical situational awareness without requiring complex hierarchical coordination, simplifying the management of multiple units while preserving increased unloading capacity.
3Ease of operation
If haulage units navigate without real-time information, then navigation is simpler, but they may arrive at wrong harvesters or suboptimal locations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating and communicating optimal navigation routes to haulage units before they need to arrive at the rendezvous point. Haulage units receive advance information about the harvester's current position, predicted future positions along the machine path, and optimal arrival times, allowing them to navigate efficiently without complex real-time decision-making while ensuring they reach the correct location.
4Loss of time
If the system predicts rendezvous points based on machine path and yield, then unloading timing is optimized, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs preliminary calculations to predict where and when the clean grain tank will reach capacity based on the harvester's machine path and predicted crop yield at different locations. This preliminary action enables the system to proactively communicate upcoming rendezvous points to haulage units before the harvester actually needs unloading, optimizing timing without requiring complex real-time intervention during harvesting operations.
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural harvesting machine includes a harvested crop repository having a fill capacity, a crop processing system configured to engage crop in a field, perform a crop processing operation on the crop, and move the processed crop to the harvested crop repository, a fill level sensor configured to generate a fill level signal indicative of a current fill level of the harvested crop repository, and a control system configured to obtain a machine path definition that represents a machine path for the agricultural harvesting machine, wherein the machine path definition defines a turn pattern and a land size of a land in the field, identify a rendezvous point in the field for the agricultural harvesting machine and a haulage vehicle based on the machine path definition, and generate a control signal based on the rendezvous point.