Steerable Front Disc Mower Pivot Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural vehicles equipped with triple mowers often miss crop during turning events due to the lack of overlap between the front-mounted mower and rear-mounted mowers, resulting in suboptimal cutting.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising an agricultural vehicle with a rear-mounted mower and a front-mounted mower pivotably coupled to a front hitch via a pivot member and pivot-adjustment mechanism. A control system processes signals from a sensor determining the steering angle, adjusting the pivot-adjustment mechanism to optimize the cutting position of the front-mounted mower during turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the front-mounted mower is dragged laterally across the mowing area during turning events, then the mower can navigate turns, but the cutting mechanism engages with the crop at an angle leading to suboptimal cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The front-mounted mower is made dynamically adjustable through a pivot mechanism that allows it to change its angular position relative to the agricultural vehicle. The pivot-adjustment mechanism enables the mower to dynamically adapt its orientation during turning events, transitioning from a fixed lateral drag position to an optimized cutting angle that maintains effectiveness during vehicle maneuvers.
2Manufacturing precision
If the front-mounted mower is positioned to maintain overlap with rear-mounted mowers during turns, then cutting quality improves, but the complexity of the mower positioning system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates a control system with sensors that detect the steering angle of the agricultural vehicle and provide feedback to the pivot-adjustment mechanism. This feedback loop automatically adjusts the front-mounted mower's position based on real-time vehicle orientation, maintaining optimal overlap with rear-mounted mowers during turns without requiring complex manual intervention or overly sophisticated positioning systems.
3Manufacturing precision
If a pivot-adjustment mechanism is added to the front-mounted mower, then cutting quality during turns improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pivot-adjustment mechanism is designed to automatically adjust the front-mounted mower's position based on the vehicle's steering angle without requiring external intervention. The mechanism serves itself by using the control system to autonomously determine and execute the necessary positional adjustments, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining improved cutting quality during turning events.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes an agricultural vehicle, a rear-mounted mower coupled to the agricultural vehicle by a rear hitch, a front-mounted mower pivotably coupled to a front hitch of the vehicle by a pivot member and at least one pivot-adjustment mechanism, and a control system configured to control the front-mounted mower. The control system includes processing circuitry configured to obtain a steering angle signal from a sensor, assign a value to the signal, determine if the value exceeds a first threshold, and responsive to determining that the value exceeds the first threshold, transmit a first instruction to adjust the at least one pivot-adjustment mechanism from a first position to a second position.