Agricultural Implement Protection System with Proximity Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural implements, such as planters, often encounter obstacles like fences, buildings, and trees due to their wider width compared to the work vehicle, leading to potential damage and difficulties in avoidance, especially when operators or unmanned systems lack situational awareness or accurate distance perception.
Innovation Solution
An implement protection system equipped with proximity sensors and a controller that detects obstacles and emits warning signals, allowing operators or autonomous systems to maneuver the implement to avoid collisions, using a combination of sensors like ultrasonic, optical, and radar sensors for comprehensive detection and redundant confirmation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the agricultural implement uses a wide width to cover more ground, then productivity increases, but the risk of encountering obstacles and causing damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The proximity sensors detect obstacles before the implement reaches them, providing advance warning to the operator. This preliminary detection allows the operator to take corrective action before collision occurs, resolving the contradiction between wide ground coverage and obstacle collision risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The warning system acts as an intermediary between the obstacle and the implement, providing information about the obstacle's location and enabling the operator to make informed decisions about avoidance maneuvers, thus protecting the wide implement from damage while maintaining productivity.
2Ease of operation
If the implement operates in floating arrangement with hydraulic cylinders, then ease of operation improves, but control precision near obstacles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The proximity sensors provide real-time feedback about obstacle location and distance to the operator. This feedback compensates for the reduced positional control precision inherent in floating hydraulic arrangements, allowing the operator to maintain safe distances from obstacles while enjoying the ease of operation provided by hydraulic flexibility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the implement is towed behind work vehicle, then adaptability improves, but situational awareness capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The proximity sensor system serves as an intermediary that compensates for the operator's limited situational awareness. Since the operator sits in the work vehicle and cannot directly observe obstacles near the wide implement, the sensor system provides the necessary information about the environment, enabling safe operation while maintaining the adaptability of the towable implement configuration.
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
Effectively prevents collisions by enabling accurate obstacle detection and avoidance, reducing damage to both the implement and obstacles, and facilitating safe operation in various weather and light conditions.
Implementation Method 1
The proximity sensor emits a proximity signal indicative of the obstruction
Implementation Method 2
using a combination of sensors like ultrasonic, optical, and radar sensors for comprehensive detection
Implementation Method 3
using a combination of sensors like ultrasonic, optical, and radar sensors for comprehensive detection
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural system that includes a towable agricultural implement. The towable agricultural implement includes a tow bar assembly. A wing tool bar pivotally couples to the tow bar assembly or to a work vehicle. The wing tool bar is configured to transition between a deployed configuration and a retracted configuration. A plurality of row units attach to the wing tool bar. An implement protection system detects an obstruction in a path of the towable agricultural implement. The implement protection system includes a proximity sensor coupled to the towable agricultural implement. The proximity sensor emits a proximity signal indicative of the obstruction. A controller couples to the proximity sensor and receives the proximity signal indicative of the obstruction and emits a warning signal.