Harvester Spout Feed-Forward Control for Accurate Filling on Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural harvester systems face challenges in maintaining an even fill of harvested material into receiving vehicles during turns, as existing automatic fill control systems are often reactive and cannot quickly compensate for the rapid changes in spout position relative to the vehicle, leading to material being dumped on the ground or unevenly distributed.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a forward-looking device that identifies upcoming turns and generates feed-forward control signals to adjust the spout and flap positions ahead of time, using image processing or sensor data to anticipate and compensate for the changes in position, ensuring continuous and accurate filling during turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If reactive automatic fill control systems are used to control spout position, then the system can respond to position changes, but it cannot quickly compensate for rapid changes during turns, leading to material loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a forward-looking device to detect upcoming turns before they occur and generates feed-forward control signals to adjust spout and flap positions in advance. This preliminary action allows the system to proactively compensate for anticipated position changes during turns, rather than merely reacting to them after they occur, thereby maintaining fill accuracy during rapid maneuvers.
2Reliability
If the operator manually controls the spout position during turns, then accurate filling can be maintained, but the operator's attention is diverted from other harvesting control tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automatic feed-forward control that independently detects upcoming turns and adjusts spout and flap positions without operator intervention. The forward-looking device and control system work together to autonomously maintain accurate filling during turns, freeing the operator to focus on other harvesting control tasks while the system serves itself.
3Loss of substance
If the spout position is adjusted reactively after a turn begins, then some compensation can be made, but the rapid changes in position during turns cause material to be dumped on the ground
Solution Approach 1:
The forward-looking device detects upcoming turns in advance and the control system generates feed-forward signals to adjust spout and flap positions before the turn begins. This preliminary adjustment eliminates the time lag associated with reactive control, ensuring material is directed accurately into the receiving vehicle throughout the entire turn maneuver without being dumped on the ground.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines feed-forward control based on forward-looking detection with feedback from sensors that monitor actual spout position and material flow. This hybrid approach uses feedback to verify and fine-tune the feed-forward adjustments, ensuring minimal material loss while adapting to actual operating conditions during turns.
Data Source
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AI summary
An agricultural harvester has a frame and a spout that is movably mounted relative to the frame. A spout actuator drives movement of the spout relative to the frame based on a spout actuator control signal. Harvesting functionality engages material from a field and delivers the material through an outlet end of the spout as the agricultural harvester moves through the field in a direction of travel. A turn identifier identifies a location of a turn forward of the agricultural harvester in the direction of travel and generates a turn location indicator indicative of the location of the turn. A speed detector detects a speed of the agricultural harvester and generates a speed indicator indicative of the detected speed. A position compensation control system generates spout position compensation information for controlling the spout actuator based on the turn location indicator and the speed indicator, and a spout position controller generates the spout actuator control signal to control the spout actuator based on the spout position compensation information.