Headland Route Adjustment for Work Vehicles Near Field Ridges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automatic traveling methods for work vehicles in agricultural fields often result in reduced work efficiency due to the need to maintain a safe distance from outer field ridges, preventing them from traveling close to these features.
Innovation Solution
An automatic traveling system that detects obstacles on the field's periphery and adjusts the travel route to avoid them by shifting inside the field, allowing the vehicle to maintain proximity to the ridge while preventing contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the work vehicle travels along the outermost periphery of the field, then work efficiency is improved by maximizing operational coverage, but the vehicle may come into contact with the ridge causing safety issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the travel route adjustable and changeable during operation. The control unit dynamically modifies the target route based on real-time ridge position detection, allowing the vehicle to adapt its path between maximizing coverage and avoiding obstacles. This resolves the contradiction by enabling the system to be both aggressive in coverage and cautious in safety through real-time adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback through the detection unit that continuously monitors ridge positions and feeds this information back to the control unit. The control unit then adjusts the target route based on this feedback, creating a closed-loop control system. This feedback mechanism allows the vehicle to maintain optimal distance from ridges while maximizing field coverage, resolving the safety-efficiency contradiction.
2Reliability
If a predetermined safety distance is maintained from the ridge, then contact avoidance is ensured, but work efficiency is reduced due to limited operational coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the safety buffer distance rather than using a fixed predetermined distance. The control unit modifies the target route in real-time based on detected ridge positions, allowing the vehicle to approach closer to ridges when safe and maintain greater distance when necessary. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by optimizing both safety and efficiency throughout the operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of safety distance from a fixed value to a variable that adjusts based on ridge detection. By modifying the target route parameters dynamically according to detected ridge positions, the system optimizes the balance between safety margins and operational coverage, resolving the contradiction between reliability and productivity.
3Reliability
If the target route is set away from the ridge by a predetermined distance, then contact avoidance is achieved, but the vehicle cannot travel in the vicinity of the ridge reducing operational coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the target route dynamic rather than static. The control unit continuously adjusts the target route based on real-time ridge position detection, allowing the vehicle to operate closer to ridges when the detected position permits. This dynamic route adjustment expands the effective operational coverage while maintaining safety, resolving the contradiction between reliability and area coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of ridge positions and pre-adjusts the target route accordingly. By detecting ridges and modifying the route in advance rather than reacting after contact, the system enables the vehicle to safely operate in areas closer to ridges, thereby expanding operational coverage while maintaining safety margins.
Data Source
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AI summary
[Problem] To provide an automatic traveling method, an automatic traveling system, and an automatic traveling program that enable to improve work efficiency of a work vehicle in an outer peripheral area of a field. [Solution] A traveling processing unit 111 causes a work vehicle 10 to automatically travel along a target route R set within a field F. A detection processing unit 112 detects an obstacle located on an outer periphery of the field F, while the work vehicle 10 is traveling along the target route R in a headland area Fb of the field F. In a case where the obstacle is a ridge A1, the traveling processing unit 111 causes the work vehicle 10 to travel along an avoidance route r1 inside the field F than the target route R.