Controller for a harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10624258-B2
Application number	US-201916375202-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2019
Priority date	May 29, 2015
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

A controller for a harvester. The controller is configured to receive crop flow information representative of how crop is flowing through the harvester and generate display information for providing a visual display to an operator of the harvester. The visual display includes an animation of crop flowing through the harvester. The controller is further configured to set one or more properties of the animation of the crop flowing through the harvester based on the received crop flow information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A controller for a harvester configured to:
receive from at least one of a plurality of sensors of the harvester crop flow information representative of how crop is flowing through the harvester, the plurality of sensors including:
a mass sensor configured to measure a mass of grain or other material to provide amount-of-material information;
a material-type sensor configured to determine material-type-information representative of a type of material that is flowing through the harvester, the controller being configured to set a visual property of the crop flowing through the harvester based on the material-type-information, wherein the material-type-information includes broken grain or material other than grain (MOG);
a grain camera positioned on the harvester and coupled to the controller to capture in real time an image of crop material as it passes through the harvester;
a rotation speed (RPM) sensor configured to measure a speed of a component of the harvester that rotates;

provide at least three options for setting at least one machine setting value from a plurality of machine setting values of the harvester, the at least three options including (a) receiving the at least one machine setting value from at least one of a plurality of machine controls of the harvester, (b) setting automatically by the controller the at least one of the machine setting values, and (c) receiving an override operation to override automatic operation of the harvester;
set a speed of rotation and/or a speed of motion of the component that rotates;
receive a corresponding output from each of the plurality of sensors indicative of a sensed parameter relating to a function of the harvester;
cause to be displayed on a screen in the harvester in real time as the harvester is undergoing a harvesting operation a plurality of visual representations on one or more visual displays on the screen, the visual representations including:
the visual property of the crop flowing through the harvester based on the material-type-information;
a graphical representation of the amount-of-material information determined using the mass sensor;
a captured image from the grain camera of the crop material passing through the harvester to determine different types of material present in the crop material;
a schematic illustration of the harvester including parts involved in moving the crop through the harvester;
graphical content representative of at least some of a plurality of settings related to one or more parts of the harvester involved in crop flow through the harvester; and

automatically adjust without manual intervention the at least one of the machine setting values based on at least one of the outputs in accordance with an automatic control algorithm.

2. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to prompt an operator of the harvester to interact with the harvester to reduce crop losses and/or to identify an event that could lead to a malfunction of the harvester based on the automatic control algorithm.

3. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors includes any combination of one or more of the following: a crop flow sensor, a moisture sensor, an air pressure sensor, a sensor configured to be used to detect that a component of the harvester has failed or requires maintenance, a distance sensor, a feed rate sensor, a rotation speed sensor, and a sensor configured to measure a status of the harvester; and wherein the machine setting values include any combination of one of more of the following: ground speed of the harvester, rotor speed, concave clearance, speed of the fan, pre-sieve opening, upper sieve opening, and bottom sieve opening.

4. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the captured images are displayed as an animation of crop flowing through the harvester on the screen.

5. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the displaying the animation of the crop flowing through the harvester results in reduced crop losses during operation of the harvester.

6. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to:
cause an animation of the moving part of the harvester to be displayed on the screen; and
set one or more properties of the moving part of the harvester and/or animated crop flow based on at least one of the received machine setting values.

7. The controller of claim 6 , being further configured to set one or more properties of the moving part of the harvester and the animated crop flow based on at least one of the received machine setting values.

8. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to set a flow rate property of material flowing through the harvester along a crop flow path based on an output from at least one of the plurality of sensors.

9. The controller of claim 8 , being further configured to cause a region of material associated with a specific point along the crop flow path to be visually displayed on the screen.

10. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to cause a schematic illustration of the fan on the screen.

11. The controller of claim 10 , wherein the schematic illustration is an amination of a speed of rotation of the fan.

12. The controller of claim 11 , being further configured to set the speed of rotation of the fan in the animation based on one of the machine setting values that is associated with the fan.

13. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to cause a two-dimensional schematic view through the harvester including components of the harvester.

14. The controller of claim 13 , the components including any one or more of the following: a threshing cylinder, a chopper, the pan, a pre-sieve, the fan, an upper sieve, and a bottom sieve.

15. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to cause information relating to the harvester or its operation to be visually displayed on the screen, the information including a bar chart.

16. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the crop flow information includes any one or more of the following: rotor losses, returns representing an amount of material transferred by a re-cleaning auger of the harvester, broken grain, material other than grain (MOG), sieve losses, and engine load.

17. The controller of claim 1 , being further configured to cause information on the screen as an animation, the animation including any one or more of the following: a schematic illustration of a part or parts of the harvester that move, material that moves during operation of the harvester as moving in a corresponding way in the animation, any parts that rotate during use as rotating in the animation, and a schematic illustration of parts of the harvester that move or are stationary during use.

18. The controller of claim 1 , being configured to generate feedback information for improving the automatic control algorithm based on an input of an operator of the harvester.

19. The controller of claim 18 , the input of the operator including an input to override the automatic control using an override operation.

20. The controller of claim 19 , the feedback information including details of the crop flow information and/or machine setting values at a time at which the operator provides the override operation.

21. The controller of claim 20 , the feedback information including details of the override operation, including any one or more of the following: which machine setting was changed, how it was changed including whether the value was increased or decreased.

22

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Missotten Bart M A
• Aesaert Glenn
• Carpentier Michael
• Jongmans Dré W J
• Mahieu Thomas
• Mesquita Ricardo
• Viaene Karel M C
• Vroman Bart
• Scherrens Johnny M F

Classifications

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title

• A01D41/127 Primary

  Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines · CPC title

• A01D34/006 Primary

  Control or measuring arrangements · CPC title

• A01D75/00

  Accessories for harvesters or mowers · CPC title

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title