Work vehicle, slope travel control system for work vehicle, and slope travel control method for work vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10474153-B2
Application number	US-201615385760-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2016
Priority date	Jul 19, 2016
Publication date	Nov 12, 2019
Grant date	Nov 12, 2019

Abstract

A work vehicle to travel along a travel route includes a vehicle body, an inclination sensor, a calculator, an information generator, and a recorder. The inclination sensor is provided on the vehicle body to detect a vehicle body inclination angle with respect to a horizontal line. The calculator is to calculate a position of the work vehicle in a work field based on positioning data. The information generator is to output travel limit information at an inclination position on the travel route where the vehicle body inclination angle detected by the inclination sensor exceeds a threshold angle. The recorder is to record, as an inclined area, an area around the inclination position which is calculated based on the positioning data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A work vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body;
an inclination sensor provided on the vehicle body to detect a vehicle body inclination angle with respect to a horizontal line;
a calculator to calculate a position of the work vehicle in a work field based on positioning data;
a travel route memory to store a travel route comprising travel route segments along which the work vehicle travels, the travel route comprising cycles, each of the cycles comprising a first straight travel route segment, a first U-turn travel route segment, a second straight travel route segment, and a second U-turn travel route segment as the travel route segments, the first straight travel route segment extending in a straight direction and having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end in the straight direction, the first U-turn travel route segment being connected to the second end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the first U-turn travel route segment in one of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction, the second straight travel route segment being connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and extending substantially parallel to the first straight travel route segment, the second straight travel route segment having a third end connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and a fourth end opposite to the third end in the straight direction, the second U-turn travel route segment being connected to the fourth end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the second U-turn travel route segment in another of the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction to be connected to the first end of the first straight travel route segment in another of the cycles that is subsequent to each of the cycles;
an information generator to output travel limit information at each inclination position along the travel route where the vehicle body inclination angle detected by the inclination sensor exceeds a threshold angle, the travel limit information including a stop signal to control the work vehicle to stop; and
a recorder to record each inclination position along the travel route and each corresponding travel route segment among the travel route segments which includes the corresponding inclination position.

2. The work vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the information generator outputs a travel warning signal to warn of travelling with automatic steering when the vehicle body inclination angle exceeds a warning threshold angle that is below a travel prohibition threshold angle at which the stop signal is generated.

3. The work vehicle according to claim 1 ,
wherein the inclination position which has been recorded is read when a travel route is generated in planning a next operation.

4. A slope travel control system for a work vehicle comprising:
an inclination sensor to detect a vehicle body inclination angle of a vehicle body of the work vehicle with respect to a horizontal line;
a calculator to calculate a position of the work vehicle in the work field based on positioning data;
a travel route memory to store a travel route including travel route segments along which the work vehicle travels, the travel route comprising cycles, the cycles comprising a first straight travel route segment, a first U-turn travel route segment, a second straight travel route segment, and a second U-turn travel route segment as the travel route segments, the first straight travel route segment extending in a straight direction and having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end in the straight direction, the first U-turn travel route segment being connected to the second end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the first U-turn travel route segment in one of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction, the second straight travel route segment being connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and extending substantially parallel to the first straight travel route segment, the second straight travel route segment having a third end connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and a fourth end opposite to the third end in the straight direction, the second U-turn travel route segment being connected to the fourth end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the second U-turn travel route segment in another of the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction to be connected to the first end of the first straight travel route segment in another of the cycles that is subsequent to each of the cycles;
a receiver to receive the vehicle body inclination angle associated with the position;
an information generator to output travel limit information at each inclination position along the travel route where the vehicle body inclination angle detected by the inclination sensor exceeds a threshold angle, the travel limit information including a stop signal to control the work vehicle to stop; and
a recorder to record each inclination position along the travel route and each corresponding travel route segment among the travel route segments which includes the corresponding inclination position.

5. A slope travel control method comprising:
generating a travel route including travel route segments along which the work vehicle travels, the travel route comprising cycles, each of the cycles comprising a first straight travel route segment, a first U-turn travel route segment, a second straight travel route segment, and a second U-turn travel route segment as the travel route segments, the first straight travel route segment extending in a straight direction and having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end in the straight direction, the first U-turn travel route segment being connected to the second end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the first U-turn travel route segment in one of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction, the second straight travel route segment being connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and extending substantially parallel to the first straight travel route segment, the second straight travel route segment having a third end connected to the first U-turn travel route segment and a fourth end opposite to the third end in the straight direction, the second U-turn travel route segment being connected to the fourth end, the work vehicle being configured to turn along the second U-turn travel route segment in another of the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction to be connected to the first end of the first straight travel route segment in another of the cycles that is subsequent to each of the cycles;
detecting a vehicle body inclination angle of a vehicle body of the work vehicle with respect to a horizontal line;
calculating a position of the work vehicle in the work field based on positioning data;
receiving the vehicle body inclination angle associated with the position;
outputting travel limit information at each inclination position along the travel route where the vehicle body inclination angle exceeds a threshold angle, the travel limit information including a stop signal to control the work vehicle to stop; and
recording each inclination position along the travel route and each corresponding travel route segment among the travel route segments which includes the corresponding inclination position.

6. The work vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the information generator is configured to output the travel limit information to stop the work vehicle from automatically travelling.

7. The work vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the information generator is configured to output an automatic steering prohibition signal to prohibit automatic steering of the work vehicle when the vehic

Assignees

• Kubota Kk

Inventors

• Matsuzaki Yushi
• Shinkai Atsushi
• Nishi Keishiro

Classifications

• A01B69/00

  Steering of agricultural machines or implements; Guiding agricultural machines or implements on a desired track · CPC title

• A01B63/11 Primary

  for controlling weight transfer between implements and tractor wheels · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• B60Y2200/221

  Tractors · CPC title

• B60Y2400/301

  for position or displacement · CPC title