Device comprising a motorized conveyor for conveying a flow of harvested crop based on device inclination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11617306-B2
Application number	US-201716474447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2017
Priority date	Dec 28, 2016
Publication date	Apr 4, 2023
Grant date	Apr 4, 2023

Abstract

A device including at least one motorized conveyor for conveying a flow of harvested crop between an upstream end and a downstream end of the conveyor along a longitudinal direction. The device further including at least one sensor that monitors a longitudinal inclination of the device relative to a nominal orientation of the device. The device computes a conveyor speed based on the monitored longitudinal inclination, the conveyor speed being adapted to maintain conveying kinematics of the harvested crop independent from the longitudinal inclination; and the device operates the motorized conveyor at the computed conveyor speed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device having a moving direction, comprising:
at least one motorized conveyor for conveying a flow of harvested crop between an upstream end and a downstream end of said conveyor along a longitudinal direction, the longitudinal direction and the moving direction being in the same plane; and
at least one sensor, said at least one sensor monitoring a longitudinal inclination of the device relative to a nominal orientation of said device, the device carrying out the steps of:
computing a conveyor speed based on said monitored longitudinal inclination, said conveyor speed being adapted to maintain conveying kinematics of the harvested crop independent from said longitudinal inclination; and
operating the motorized conveyor at said computed conveyor speed.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the nominal orientation of the device corresponds to a moving of said device on a horizontal ground.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the device further carries out the steps of:
determining a nominal conveyor speed corresponding to a requested conveying kinematics of the harvested crop when the longitudinal inclination is null; and
operating the motorized conveyor at said nominal conveyor speed when the device is in its nominal orientation.

4. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the device further carries out the steps of:
determining a gain chart to apply to the nominal conveyor speed in function of the monitored longitudinal inclination; and
computing the conveyor speed to operate the motorized conveyor by using said gain chart.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the gains of the gain chart are higher than a nominal value for a positive longitudinal inclination as regards the conveying direction.

6. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the device carries out the step of implementing an initial step for defining the nominal conveyor speed in the nominal orientation of the device, said nominal conveyor speed being then tunable in function of potential modifications in time of the kinematics of the harvested crop.

7. The device according to claim 6 , wherein the device further carries out the steps of:
storing the nominal conveyor speed; and
testing the validity of a previous nominal conveyor speed before defining a new nominal conveyor speed.

8. The device according to claim 1 , wherein a human operator of the device modifies the speed to operate the motorized conveyor at.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the device uses the modified speed for computing the subsequent conveyor speed to operate the motorized conveyor at.

10. A harvesting machine, comprising
a device moving in a moving direction of the harvesting machine including:
at least one motorized conveyor for conveying a flow of harvested crop between an upstream end and a downstream end of said conveyor along a longitudinal direction, the longitudinal direction and the moving direction being in the same plane; and
at least one sensor, said at least one sensor monitoring a longitudinal inclination of the device relative to a nominal orientation of the device, the device carrying out the steps of:
computing a conveyor speed based on said monitored longitudinal inclination, said conveyor speed being adapted to maintain conveying kinematics of the harvested crop independent from said longitudinal inclination; and
operating the motorized conveyor at said computed conveyor speed.

11. The harvesting machine according to claim 10 , further comprising a suction cleaning unit, the motorized conveyor being arranged for conveying a flow of harvested crop under said suction cleaning unit.

12. The harvesting machine according to claim 10 , further comprising a destemming unit, the motorized conveyor being arranged for conveying a flow of harvested crop within said destemming unit.

13. The harvesting machine according to claim 10 , wherein the harvesting machine is arranged for the harvesting of fruits and/or berries.

14. The device of claim 4 , wherein the gains of the gain chart are lower than a nominal value for a negative longitudinal inclination as regards the conveying direction.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein the steps carried out by the device are repeatedly carried out if the device is preforming a harvesting operation and the longitudinal inclination is between +45° and −45°, and the steps are stopped if the longitudinal inclination is not between +45° and −45°.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• De Bolle Lieven
• Preau Nicolas
• Metayer Raphaël

Classifications

• A23N15/02

  for stemming, piercing, or stripping fruit {(for household appliances A47J21/00)}; Removing sprouts of potatoes · CPC title

• A01D57/20

  with conveyor belts · CPC title

• A01D46/28 Primary

  Vintaging machines, i.e. grape harvesting machines · CPC title

• A01D46/285

  with means for separating leaves and grapes, e.g. pneumatical means like blowing or aspirating devices · CPC title

• A01D75/28 Primary

  Control mechanisms for harvesters or mowers when moving on slopes; Devices preventing lateral pull · CPC title