System and method for sensing harvested crop levels within an agricultural harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10368488-B2
Application number	US-201715706929-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2017
Priority date	Sep 18, 2017
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

A system for sensing harvested crop levels within an agricultural harvester may include a crop tank configured to receive harvested crop. The system may further include a sensor configured to emit a sensor beam into the crop tank for reflection off of the top surface of the harvested crop. Additionally, the system may include a reflection panel positioned at a minimum detectable crop level within the crop tank. The reflection panel may be configured to reflect the sensor beam when the current crop level is vertically below the minimum detectable crop level. A center of the reflection panel may be positioned closer to the sensor than an outer edge of the reflection panel such that the reflection panel diffuses the sensor beam as it reflects off of the reflection panel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for sensing harvested crop levels within an agricultural harvester, the system comprising:
a crop tank extending vertically between a top end and a bottom end, the crop tank being configured to receive harvested crop, a current crop level of the harvested crop being defined by a top surface of the harvested crop within the crop tank;
a sensor configured to emit a sensor beam into the crop tank for reflection off of the top surface of the harvested crop; and
a reflection panel positioned at a minimum detectable crop level within the crop tank, the minimum detectable crop level being defined by a minimum crop level within the crop tank at which the top surface of the harvested crop is contacted by the sensor beam, the reflection panel being configured to reflect the sensor beam when the current crop level is vertically below the minimum detectable crop level,
wherein a center of the reflection panel is positioned closer to the sensor than an outer edge of the reflection panel such that the reflection panel diffuses the sensor beam as it reflects off of the reflection panel, wherein the reflection panel is positioned above a bottom surface of the crop tank and not in direct contact with the bottom surface of the crop tank.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a reflection surface of the reflection panel defines a convex shape.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reflection panel defines a circular outer shape.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor beam is an ultrasonic beam.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reflection panel is fixedly coupled to the crop tank.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is coupled to a top edge of the crop tank.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the crop tank extends longitudinally between a forward end and an aft end, the forward and aft ends being defined relative a forward direction of travel of the agricultural harvester, the sensor being positioned at or adjacent to the aft end of the crop tank.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor, the controller being configured to monitor the current crop level of the harvested crop within the crop tank based on measurement signals received from the sensor.

9. An agricultural harvester, comprising:
a harvesting implement;
a threshing and separating assembly configured to thresh and separate the harvested crop provided by the harvesting implement;
a crop tank extending vertically between a top end and a bottom end, the crop tank being configured to receive the harvested crop from the threshing and separating assembly;
a sensor configured to emit a sensor beam into the crop tank for reflection off of a top surface of the harvested crop, a current crop level being defined by the top surface of the harvested crop within the crop tank; and
a reflection panel positioned within the crop tank, the reflection panel defining a convex shape, the reflection panel being configured to diffuse the sensor beam as the sensor beam reflects off of the reflection panel, wherein the reflection panel is positioned at a minimum detectable crop level within the crop tank, the reflection panel being further configured to reflect the sensor beam when the current crop level is vertically below a minimum detectable crop level, the minimum detectable crop level being defined by a minimum crop level within the crop tank at which the top surface of the harvested crop is contacted by the sensor beam, wherein the reflection panel is positioned above a bottom surface of the crop tank and not in direct contact with the bottom surface of the crop tank.

10. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , further comprising:
a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor, the controller being configured to monitor the current crop level of the harvested crop within the crop tank based on measurement signals received from the sensor.

11. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , wherein the reflection panel defines a circular shape.

12. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , wherein the sensor beam is an ultrasonic beam.

13. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , wherein the reflection panel is fixedly coupled to the crop tank.

14. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , wherein the sensor is coupled to a top edge of the crop tank.

15. The agricultural harvester of claim 9 , wherein the crop tank extends longitudinally between a forward end and an aft end, the forward and aft ends being defined relative a direction of travel of the agricultural harvester, the sensor being positioned at or adjacent to the aft end of the crop tank.

16. A method for sensing a current crop level within a crop tank of an agricultural harvester, the method comprising:
emitting, with a sensor, at least one sensor beam within the crop tank for reflection off of a top surface of harvested crop contained within the crop tank, a current crop level within the crop tank being defined by the top surface of the harvested crop;
receiving, with the sensor, a first reflected sensor beam corresponding to the at least one sensor beam as reflected off of the top surface of harvested crop when the current crop level in the crop tank is vertically above a minimum detectable crop level for the crop tank, the minimum detectable crop level being defined by a minimum crop level within the crop tank at which the top surface of the harvested crop is contacted by the sensor beam; and
receiving, with the sensor, a second reflected sensor beam corresponding to the at least one sensor beam as reflected off of a reflection panel positioned at the minimum detectable crop level within the crop tank when the current crop level is vertically below the minimum detectable crop level, the reflection panel being convex such that the reflection panel diffuses the at least one sensor beam as it reflects off of the reflection panel.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
transmitting, with the sensor, measurement signals to a computing device communicatively coupled to the sensor, the measurement signals being indicative of the current crop level of the harvested crop within the crop tank.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Becker Justin M
• Dilts Mark D
• Minnich Michael
• Banks Jr Clayton E
• Yoder Denver R

Classifications

• A01D41/1275 Primary

  for the level of grain in grain tanks · CPC title

• A01D41/1208

  Tanks for grain or chaff (for threshing machines A01F12/60) · CPC title

• G01F23/0007

  for discrete indicating and measuring (G01F23/02 - G01F23/28 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01F23/2961

  for discrete levels (G01F23/2962 - G01F23/2968 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01F23/296

  Acoustic waves · CPC title