Work Vehicle Route Determination Minimizing Soil Compaction

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Solution Overview

Problem

When work vehicles travel in fields, the soil becomes compacted and solidified where the tires or crawlers contact the ground, leading to local compaction, which affects water drainage, nutrient permeability, and root growth.

Innovation Solution

A traveling assisting device with a route determination section that calculates a target traveling route to minimize repeated contact areas with the ground, incorporating compaction-related information and threshold values to prevent excessive soil compaction, and includes features like compaction-related information acquisition, expected compaction degree calculation, and alarming systems.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the work vehicle travels along a simple straight path to maximize productivity, then the traveling efficiency is improved, but the soil compaction increases due to repeated contact with the same ground areas

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetraveling efficiencyVSAvoidsoil compaction

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of the field terrain and predetermined travel paths before actual travel, calculating ground-contact expected areas and determining optimal routes that minimize soil compaction. This preliminary planning allows the vehicle to avoid repeatedly traversing the same ground areas while maintaining efficient productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The route determination is made dynamic and adaptive based on field conditions. The system calculates ground-contact expected areas and adjusts travel paths in real-time or for subsequent trips, transforming the static routing problem into a dynamic optimization process that balances productivity with soil conservation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Productivity

If the vehicle frequently revisits the same field areas for work operations, then the work completion rate is improved, but the local soil compaction deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvework completion rateVSAvoidsoil health

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The field area is segmented into multiple ground-contact expected areas based on terrain characteristics and work requirements. The system divides the field into zones that can be systematically traversed, ensuring that each segment is worked efficiently while minimizing overlap and repeated contact with the same soil areas across different work operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies different travel strategies to different local areas of the field based on their specific characteristics. By analyzing ground-contact expected areas locally and determining optimal paths for each zone, the system maintains appropriate soil contact levels in each local area while achieving overall work completion.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12140431B2Traveling assisting device for work vehicle and the work vehicle

Publication Date: 2024.11.12 KUBOTA CORP

AI summary

Provided is a traveling assisting device for a work vehicle which makes it easy to avoid local compaction of the soil. There is provided a route determination section that determines a target traveling route based on a ground-contact expected area which is an area where the traveling device is expected to contact the ground surface in the field.