Agricultural tillage implement wheel control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11039564-B2
Application number	US-201916688343-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2019
Priority date	Nov 13, 2013
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

An agricultural tillage implement includes a main section including a hitch extending in a travel direction, a plurality of foldable wing sections coupled with the main section, a plurality of ground engaging tilling elements, a plurality of wheel assemblies and a control system. The tilling elements are coupled to the main section and wing sections. Each of the wheel assemblies include an actuator. The wheel assemblies include a first plurality of wheel assemblies associated with the main section and a second plurality of wheel assemblies associated with the plurality of wing sections. The actuators of the first plurality of wheel assemblies being independent of the actuators of the second plurality of wheel assemblies. The control system is configured to actuate the actuators to effect a profile minimizing operation of the foldable wing sections when the implement is being transitioned into a transport mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a control system of an agricultural tillage implement, the implement having a main central section including a pull hitch extending in a travel direction, a plurality of foldable wing sections coupled with the main central section and a plurality of wheel assemblies, each of the plurality of wing sections having at least one tilling element that is engageable with the ground, the method comprising:
providing a controller;
providing a plurality of actuators with at least one actuator being associated with each of the plurality of wheel assemblies, the plurality of wheel assemblies including a first plurality of wheel assemblies associated with the main central section and a second plurality of wheel assemblies associated with the plurality of wing sections, and the plurality of actuators associated with each second plurality of wheel assemblies includes a linkage system including an actuator positioned between rear and fore wheels of the second plurality of wheel assemblies, the linkage system of each wing section operatively connected at one end of the system to a rear wheel of one of the plurality of second wheel assemblies associated with that wing section and at an opposite end of the system to a fore wheel of the one of the plurality of second wheel assemblies, wherein the at least one actuator associated with the main center section and the linkage system of each of the plurality of wing sections is operably connected to the controller;
moving the first plurality of wheel assemblies and the second plurality of wheel assemblies via the plurality of actuators to an adjustable extended position when the implement is moved into an operational field mode;
moving the second plurality of wheel assemblies via the plurality of actuators to an at least partially retracted position when the implement is moved into a folded transport mode; and
controlling via the controller the actuators of the first plurality of wheel assemblies independently of the actuators of each of the linkage systems of the second plurality of wheel assemblies, the controller actuating the plurality of actuators to control a profile minimizing operation of the foldable wing sections when the implement is being positioned into the folded transport mode; wherein each linkage system includes the actuator and an adjustable link, and independently adjusting the fore/aft leveling of each wing section via at last a portion of the actuator and the adjustable link; and wherein the plurality of foldable wing sections include a plurality of foldable wing sections on each side of the main center section, including an outer wing section furthest from the main center section when in the operational field mode and an inner wing section closest to the main center section when in the operational field mode, and the method further includes folding each outer wing section to be horizontally parallel relative to each inner wing section during a folding process, and folding outer wing sections and inner wing sections together over a portion of the main center section such that all of the plurality of foldable wing sections are vertically parallel to each other in a folded transport mode.

2. The method of claim 1 , including actuating each of the plurality of actuators via the controller to effect a depth of the tilling elements in each of the wing sections while the agricultural implement is in the operational field mode.

3. The method of claim 1 , including extending and retracting each of the plurality of actuators independently via the controller.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actuators of the wing sections are configured to lower a profile of the wing sections as the wing sections are moved from the operational field mode to the folded transport mode.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein as each wing sections is folded, the control system precludes an operator from manually extending the wheel assembly associated with the wing section.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Sudbrink Matthew R
• Knobloch Dean A

Classifications

• A01B73/046 Primary

  each folding frame part being foldable in itself · CPC title

• A01B73/048

  the axis being oriented in transverse direction (A01B73/042 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01B29/00

  Rollers · CPC title

• A01B49/027

  with a rotating, soil working support element, e.g. a roller · CPC title

• A01B73/044

  the axis being oriented in a longitudinal direction (A01B73/042 takes precedence) · CPC title