Method and system for automatically controlling a position of a ground engaging tool of an agricultural implement relative to a ground surface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10729068-B2
Application number	US-201715830366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2017
Priority date	Dec 4, 2017
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A method for automatically controlling a position of one or more ground engaging tools of an agricultural implement is relative to a ground surface may include monitoring a position signal indicative of a position of a ground engaging tool of the implement. The position signal may have an associated system delay time. The method also may include estimating an arrival time when the position of the ground engaging tool will be within a predetermined threshold of a target position based on the monitored position signal and the system delay time associated with the monitored position signal. The method may include adjusting the position of the ground engaging tool and terminating the adjustment of the ground engaging tool at a termination time determined based on the arrival time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically controlling a position of one or more ground engaging tools of an agricultural implement relative to a ground surface, the method comprising:
monitoring, with one or more computing devices, a position signal indicative of a position of a ground engaging tool of the agricultural implement, the position signal having a system delay time associated therewith;
calculating an error signal based on a comparison between the monitored position of the ground engaging tool and a target position;
estimating, with the one or more computing devices, an arrival time when the error signal will be within a predetermined error threshold based on the monitored position signal and the system delay time associated with the monitored position signal;
adjusting, with the one or more computing devices, the position of the ground engaging tool based on the error signal;
terminating, with the one or more computing devices, adjustment of the position of the ground engaging tool at a termination time and until at least one of a predetermined time period following the termination time has passed or the error signal exceeds a predetermined error band, the termination time being determined based on the arrival time; and
resuming adjusting the position of the ground engaging tool only after the at least one of the predetermined time period has passed or the error signal has exceeded the predetermined error band.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating the termination time based, at least in part, on a tool momentum parameter associated with at least one of the ground engaging tool or a support structure to which the ground engaging tool is attached.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
computing the tool momentum parameter based on a rate of change of the monitored position signal and a mass of at least one of the ground engaging tool or the support structure to which the ground engaging tool is attached.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the arrival time includes calculating an average velocity of the ground engaging tool.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing the arrival time with the system delay time; and
predicting whether an overshoot event will occur based on the comparison of the arrival time and the system delay time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein terminating the adjustment of the position of the ground engaging tool at the termination time includes stopping at least one control loop configured to adjust the position of the ground engaging tool.

7. A position control system for controlling a position of one or more ground engaging tools of an agricultural implement, the system comprising:
a support structure;
a ground engaging tool coupled to the support structure;
a tool position sensor configured to generate position signals indicative of a position of the ground engaging tool; and
at least one controller communicatively coupled to the tool position sensor, the at least one controller including a processor and associated memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the at least one controller to:
monitor the position signals received from the tool position sensor, the position signals having a system delay time associated therewith;
calculate an error signal based on a comparison between the monitored position of the ground engaging tool and a target position;
estimate an arrival time when the error signal will be within a predetermined error threshold based on the monitored position signal and the system delay time associated with the monitored position signal;
adjust the position of the ground engaging tool based on the error signal; and
terminate the adjustment of the position of the ground engaging tool at a termination time and until at least one of a predetermined time period following the termination time has passed or the error signal exceeds a predetermined error band, the termination time being determined based on the arrival time; and
resume adjusting the position of the ground engaging tool only after the at least one of the predetermined time period has passed or the error signal has exceeded the predetermined error band.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to calculate the termination time based, at least in part, on a tool momentum parameter associated with at least one of the ground engaging tool or the support structure.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to compute the tool momentum parameter based on a rate of change of the monitored position signal and a mass of at least one of the ground engaging tool or the support structure.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to calculate an average velocity of the ground engaging tool to estimate the arrival time.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to:
compare the arrival time with the system delay time associated with the position signal; and
predict whether an overshoot event will occur based on the comparison of the arrival time and the system delay time.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to:
compute a tool momentum parameter based on a rate of change of the monitored position of the ground engaging tool and a mass of at least one of the ground engaging tool or a support structure to which the ground engaging tool is attached; and
calculate the termination time based, at least in part, on the tool momentum parameter.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one controller comprises a vehicle controller and an implement controller, and wherein the system delay time associated with the position signals is associated with at least one of a communication delay between the vehicle controller and the implement controller, a hydraulic delay in a hydraulic system associated with adjusting the position of the ground engaging tool, or a response delay in the at least one controller.

14. A method for automatically controlling a position of one or more ground engaging tools of an agricultural implement relative to a ground surface, the method comprising:
monitoring, with one or more computing devices, a position signal indicative of a position of a ground engaging tool of the agricultural implement, the position signal having a system delay time associated therewith;
calculating an error signal based on a comparison between the monitored position of the ground engaging tool and a target position;
estimating, with the one or more computing devices, an arrival time when the error signal will be within a predetermined error threshold;
adjusting, with the one or more computing devices, the position of the ground engaging tool based on the error signal;
determining, with the one or more computing devices, if the position of the ground engaging tool will overshoot at least one of the target position or an upper bound of the predetermined threshold of the target position;
when it is determined that the position of the ground engaging tool will overshoot at least one of the target position or an upper bound of the predetermined threshold of the target position, terminating, with the one or more computing devices, the adjustment of the position of the ground engaging tool at a termination time, the termination time being based on the arrival time; and
resuming adjusting the position of the ground engaging tool only after the at least one of the predetermined time period has

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Wu Duqiang
• Singh Aditya
• Gulati Navneet
• Fox Jason

Classifications

• A01B63/111 Primary

  regulating working depth of implements · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title

• A01D41/141 Primary

  Automatic header control · CPC title