Automatic determination of the control unit parameters of an arrangement to control an actuator for the adjustment of an adjustable element of an agricultural machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10588258-B2
Application number	US-201715420532-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2017
Priority date	Feb 25, 2016
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

An arrangement for the control of an actuator (48) for the adjustment of an adjustable element (16) of an agricultural work machine (10) is equipped with a control unit (50) to produce adjustment signals for the adjustable element (16) in the sense of moving to a theoretical position, a control arrangement (62) of the actuator (48), coupled with the adjustable element (16), which receives the adjustment signals of the control unit (50), and a determination device (54) to make available at least one parameter (ϑ), determined with the aid of recorded vibration characteristics of the system consisting of the adjustable element (16) and the work machine (10). The determination device (54) can be operated so as to determine at least one parameter (ϑ) at the successively following time points and to supply it to the control unit (50). The parameter (ϑ) serves to optimize the regulating behavior of the control unit (50).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An arrangement for the control of an actuator for the adjustment of
a harvester header,
comprising:
a control unit to produce adjustment signals for a valve for the harvester header to move the harvester header to a nominal position;
a control arrangement of the actuator,
coupled with the harvester header,
the actuator to receive the adjustment signals of the control unit;
a determination device to provide at least one controller gain parameter ( 0 ),
the at least one controller gain parameter determined from
vibration characteristics of the system consisting of
the harvester header and the work machine;
wherein the determination device is to automatically determine the at least one controller gain parameter ( 0 )
at successive points M time in response to
movement of the harvester header towards different nominal positions at the successive points in time and to
send the at least one controller gain parameter ($)
to the control unit and
wherein the control unit outputs the adjustment signals based upon the at least one controller gain parameter ( 0 ).

2. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device is to determine the at least one parameter (ϑ) iteratively or recursively.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device to determine the parameter (ϑ) from one or more of the following determined variables of the vibration behavior of the harvester header and to determine the parameter (ϑ) for optimizing of one or more variables selected from a group of variables consisting of: the harmonic range (e), damping (d), the increase time (Ta), and/or the control unit time (Te) of the harvester header.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3 , wherein the determination device is to determine, based upon one or more of the determined variables, the parameters of the control unit, using adjustment rules or tables.

5. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device is to determine a deviation (Δh) between an ideal vibration behavior of the system consisting of the harvester header, which is described by a dynamic mathematical model ( 56 ), and the real vibration behavior of the system and the error resulting therefrom is used to calculate a parameter (ϑ) to minimize the deviation of the real behavior from the ideal behavior.

6. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device is to determine, at least one variable of the control unit section, the at least one variable comprising a value representative for the transfer function of the control unit section, based upon the adjustment signal and a corresponding, determined adjustment of the harvester header.

7. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device is to determine the at least one parameter in operation, at the headland, or during a calibration with rapid adjustment commands which appear during the operation and to supply the at least one controller gain parameter to the control unit.

8. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device is to produce test signals from time to time and to superimpose the test signals on the adjustment signals or on the theoretical value for the position of the harvester header, supplied to the control unit.

9. An arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the determination device to take into consideration the reaction of the control arrangement and the actuator with respect to a rapid adjustment command in the determination of the at least one controller gain parameter (ϑ) based on a determination of the reaction of the actuator with respect to a rapid adjustment command or with the aid of an estimate of operating variables of the control arrangement and/or the actuator, the variables comprising the temperature of the hydraulic oil used there.

10. The arrangement of claim 1 further comprising:
a chassis supporting the harvester header;
a crop processing device;
a conveyor to convey crops from the harvesting attachment to the crop processing device; and
at least one sensor to determine an actual height of the harvester header above ground.

11. The harvester of claim 1 , wherein the successive points in time are selected from a group of successive points in time consisting of: the lifting of the harvesting header at a beginning of a head land and lowering of the harvesting header when leaving the head land and height adjustment of the harvesting header during travel of the harvester between head lands.

12. The harvester of claim 1 , wherein the control arrangement is selected from a group of control arrangements consisting of: a proportional-integral controller, a proportional-integral-differential controller and a proportional-differential controller, wherein the controller gain parameter defines a proportional fraction, an integral fraction or a differential fraction of the control unit.

13. The harvester of claim 1 , the control arrangement implements a transfer function and wherein the controller gain parameter comprises coefficients of the transfer function.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Jung Benedikt
• Miller Byron K
• Muench Philipp

Classifications

• A01D41/127 Primary

  Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines · CPC title

• G05B6/02

  electric · CPC title

• A01B63/1006

  the hydraulic or pneumatic means structurally belonging to the tractor · CPC title

• A01D41/145

  Header lifting devices · CPC title

• A01B63/008

  Vertical adjustment of tools (A01B63/10 takes precedence) · CPC title