Crop harvesting machine including retractable sensor fingers with adjustable ground pressure and header tilt control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10477764-B2
Application number	US-201715471475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2017
Priority date	Mar 28, 2017
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

A crop harvesting machine with a cutter bar on a header frame has a height control system which uses depending sensor fingers arranged in contact with the ground so as to measure a height of the cutter bar above the ground. The sensor fingers are controllably retractable under actuation from an operator in the cab or automatically in response to prescribed conditions being met. The actuator used in retracting the sensor fingers can also be used to adjustably control ground pressure of the sensor fingers in the deployed position of the sensor fingers engaging the ground. The header height is adjusted using laterally spaced apart hydraulic linkages which can be operated at different elevations relative to one another responsive to different height signals relating height of opposing ends of the header frame relative to the ground to also control tilt of the header relative to the harvester frame.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. crop harvesting machine comprising:
a harvester frame having longitudinally opposed first and second ends supported for movement across ground having a crop thereon to be harvested;
a drive system mounted on the harvester frame for propelling the harvester frame in one of a plurality of drive conditions across the ground;
a cab mounted on the harvester frame for an operator;
a header mounted at the first end of the harvester frame comprising a header frame with a main rear frame member and a plurality of forwardly extending frame members each supported by the main rear frame member, and an elongate cutter bar connected to the forward end of the forwardly extending frame members so as to be arranged along a front edge of the header frame for cutting the crop;
a height control system for controlling a height of the header relative to the ground, the height control system comprising:
a sensor assembly arranged to determine height of the cutter bar above the ground, the sensor assembly including (i) a sensor finger which is elongate between a top portion of the finger pivotally supported on the header and a bottom portion of the finger distal from the top portion such that the sensor finger is movable between a working position in which the finger depends from the top portion below the header frame to the bottom portion of the finger which is spaced below the header frame for engaging the ground and following contours of the ground and a raised position in which said bottom portion of the sensor finger is in close proximity to a bottom of the header frame and (ii) a position sensor arranged to generate an output signal corresponding to the height of the header relative to the ground based upon a position of the sensor finger;
a lift linkage operable between the header frame and the harvester frame to raise and lower the header frame relative to the harvester frame responsive to the output signal of the position sensor to position the cutter bar at a prescribed height;

a controller arranged to generate a lift signal; and
a sensor positioning assembly including an actuator operatively connected between the header frame and the sensor finger below the header frame and being operatively coupled to the controller so as to be arranged to lift the sensor finger from the working position to the raised position responsive to the lift signal from the controller.

2. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 wherein the sensor positioning assembly includes a biasing member to bias the sensor finger towards one of the raised position and the working position and wherein the actuator of the sensor positioning assembly is operable to produce a biasing force acting against the biasing member to position the sensor finger in the other one of the raised position and the working position, the actuator being responsive to the lift signal from the controller to displace the sensor finger from the working position to the raised position.

3. The crop harvesting machine according claim 2 wherein the biasing member acts to urge the sensor finger towards the raised position and the actuator acts to urge the sensor finger towards the working position.

4. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 wherein the actuator of the sensor positioning assembly is operable in the working position to control a downward pressure of the sensor finger on the ground according to a set point pressure within a range of downward pressures, the set point pressure being controllably adjustable by the controller.

5. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 4 wherein the set point pressure is automatically controlled by the controller responsive to a height of the header frame.

6. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 2 wherein the actuator of the sensor positioning assembly is a hydraulic actuator and the a downward pressure of the sensor finger on the ground is controllably adjusted by using the controller to control a hydraulic pressure supplied to the actuator from a hydraulic supply on the harvester frame.

7. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 6 wherein the hydraulic supply is operable to vary the hydraulic pressure supplied to the actuator throughout of range of pressures in the working position to maintain engagement of the sensor finger with the ground through a range of heights of the header frame relative to the ground.

8. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 6 wherein the controller is arranged to reduce the hydraulic pressure supplied by the hydraulic supply to the actuator to a reduced pressure corresponding to a force applied to the sensor finger by the actuator being exceeded by a force applied to the sensor finger by the spring for raising the sensor finger to the raised position.

9. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 wherein the controller includes a sensor lifting criterion stored thereon and wherein the controller is arranged to generate the lift signal when a prescribed operating condition of the crop harvesting machine meets the sensor lifting criterion.

10. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 9 wherein the sensor lifting criterion includes a non-cutting position of the header such that the controller is arranged to generate the lift signal when the header is lifted out of a cutting position of the header.

11. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 9 wherein the sensor lifting criterion includes a reverse travel criterion such that the controller is arranged to generate the lift signal when the harvester frame is operated in a reverse direction opposite to a normal forward direction for cutting crop.

12. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 11 wherein the controller is operatively coupled to an operative drive selector in the operator cab to determine the operating condition and if the reverse travel criterion has been met.

13. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 9 wherein the sensor lifting criterion includes a turning criterion corresponding to a turning radius of the harvester frame exceeding a turning radius limit.

14. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 13 wherein the controller is operatively coupled to the drive system so as to be arranged to measure relative wheel speed between laterally opposed drive wheels on the harvester frame to determine the turning radius of the harvester frame if the turning criterion has been met.

15. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 wherein the sensor finger is contained within a lower boundary of the header frame in the raised position.

16. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 15 wherein the bottom portion of the sensor finger is supported at or above a bottom side of the beams in the raised position.

17. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 wherein the sensor finger is pivotal between the working position and the raised position about a finger pivot axis and wherein the crop harvesting machine further comprises a resilient bushing pivotally supporting the sensor finger relative to the header frame such that the sensor finger can be angularly deflected relative to the finger pivot axis.

18. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of sensor assemblies at spaced apart positions across the header frame and a sensor positioning assembly associated with each sensor assembly which is responsive to said controller.

19. The crop harvesting machine according to claim 9 further comprising an operator input supporte

Assignees

• Macdon Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Lacy Nolan
• Otto Philip
• Barnett Neil

Classifications

• A01D41/141 Primary

  Automatic header control · CPC title

• A01D41/145

  Header lifting devices · CPC title

• A01D34/04

  with cutters at the front · CPC title