Baler with dry matter content detection system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10925217-B2
Application number	US-201815988910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2018
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Feb 23, 2021
Grant date	Feb 23, 2021

Abstract

A baler for baling crop material, the baler including a frame, a feed assembly coupled to the frame, and a forming chamber where the forming chamber includes an inlet through which crop material may pass into the forming chamber. The baler also includes a moisture sensor configured to detect the moisture content of crop material passing into the forming chamber, a plurality of force sensors configured to detect the mass of a bale positioned within the forming chamber, and a controller in operable communication with the moisture sensor and the plurality of force sensors, and wherein the controller is configured to calculate the mass of dry matter contained within a bale positioned within the forming chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a baler configured to produce a bale having a predetermined dimension;
a mass sensor configured to measure a total mass of the bale;
a bale-dimension sensor configured to measure a dimension of the bale;
a moisture sensor configured to measure a moisture content of the bale; and
a controller configured to:
calculate an actual dry matter mass of the bale;
compare a desired dry matter mass to the actual dry matter mass of the bale; and
adjust the predetermined dimension based at least in part on the comparison of the desired dry matter mass to the actual dry matter mass of the bale.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the bale-dimension sensor is configured to measure a bale diameter.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined dimension is adjusted based at least in part upon a ratio of the actual dry matter mass to the desired dry matter mass.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined dimension is adjusted based at least in part on a density of the bale.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined dimension is a bale diameter.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the desired dry matter mass is input into the controller via a user interface.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actual dry matter mass of the bale is calculated based at least in part on the total mass of the bale and the moisture content of the bale.

8. A method of forming a bale with a baler having a controller, the method comprising:
receiving a signal indicating a moisture content of the bale;
receiving a signal indicating a total mass of the bale;
calculating an actual dry matter mass of the bale based at least in part on the moisture content of the bale and the total mass of the bale;
comparing the actual dry matter mass of the bale to a desired dry matter mass of the bale; and
adjusting a first attribute of the bale based at least in part on the comparison of the actual dry matter mass and the desired dry matter mass.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving a signal indicating at least one dimension of the bale.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first attribute is a predetermined dimension of the bale.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising comparing the at least one dimension of the bale to a desired dimension of the bale.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first attribute is a predetermined mass of the bale.

13. A system comprising:
a baler configured to produce a bale having a predetermined attribute;
a force sensor configured to detect a total mass of the bale;
a moisture sensor configured to measure a moisture content of the bale; and
a controller configured to:
calculate an actual dry matter mass of the bale based at least in part on the total mass of the bale and the moisture content of the bale;
compare a desired dry matter mass to the actual dry matter mass; and
adjust the predetermined attribute for a successive bale based at least in part on the comparison of the desired dry matter mass and the actual dry matter mass.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the predetermined attribute is a predetermined dimension or a predetermined mass.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Kraus Timothy J

Classifications

• A01F2015/0891

  Weighing the finished bale before falling to ground · CPC title

• G01N33/02

  Food · CPC title

• A01F15/0833 Primary

  for round balers · CPC title

• G01G19/08

  for incorporation in vehicles · CPC title

• G01B5/08

  for measuring diameters {(G01B5/0035 takes precedence; measuring radius of curvature G01B5/213)} · CPC title