Capacitive parameter measurement in a self-propelled forage harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12575494-B2
Application number	US-202217893315-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2022
Priority date	Aug 26, 2021
Publication date	Mar 17, 2026
Grant date	Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

A self-propelled forage harvester and a method for controlling said forage harvester are disclosed. A measuring device of the forage harvester may have a plurality of electrodes spaced at a distance from each other. These electrodes may be arranged or positioned in an intermediate channel of a harvested material processing channel of the forage harvester and may form a plurality of capacitors. Further, delivery-specific parameters and/or material-specific parameters may be discernible from the measurements of the electrical capacitances of the plurality of capacitors.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A self-propelled forage harvester configured to work with an attachment that collects harvested material and to process the harvested material, the forage harvester comprising:
a harvested material processing channel that is downstream from the attachment, the harvested material processing channel including:
a feeder housing configured to supply the harvested material to the forage harvester;
a cutterhead configured to process the harvested material;
a post-acceleration drum configured for post-acceleration of the harvested material;
an intermediate channel configured to forward the harvested material from the cutterhead to the post-acceleration drum; and
an ejection shaft configured to eject the harvested material; and
a measuring device comprising a plurality of electrodes spaced apart from one another, wherein the plurality of electrodes form a plurality of capacitors and comprise at least a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode and second electrode are, respectively, connected to opposing walls of the intermediate channel of the harvested material processing channel to form at least one capacitor of the plurality of capacitors, the measuring device configured to measure electrical capacitances of the plurality of capacitors; wherein the forage harvester is configured to determine one or both of delivery-specific parameters or material-specific parameters from measurements of the electrical capacitances of the plurality of capacitors.

2 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein the forage harvester is further configured to:
determine, based on the measurements of the electrical capacitances of at least some of the plurality of capacitors, a transverse distribution of the harvested material; and control, based on the transverse distribution of the harvested material, flow of the harvested material.

3 . The forage harvester of claim 2 , wherein the forage harvester is configured to control the flow of the harvested material by:
determining whether the transverse distribution of the harvested material is non-uniform; and responsive to determining that the transverse distribution of the harvested material is non-uniform, controlling one or more actuators on one or both of the forage harvester or the attachment in order to modify the flow of the harvested material.

4 . The forage harvester of claim 3 , wherein the forage harvester is configured to determine the transverse distribution of the harvested material based on the electrical capacitances of all of the plurality of capacitors.

5 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are positioned within the opposing walls of the intermediate channel of the harvested material processing channel.

6 . A self-propelled forage harvester configured to work with an attachment that collects harvested material and to process the harvested material, the forage harvester comprising:
a harvested material processing channel that is downstream from the attachment, the harvested material processing channel including:
a feeder housing configured to supply the harvested material to the forage harvester;
a cutterhead configured to process the harvested material;
a post-acceleration drum configured for post-acceleration of the harvested material;
an intermediate channel configured to forward the harvested material from the cutterhead to the post-acceleration drum; and
an ejection shaft configured to eject the harvested material; and
a measuring device comprising a plurality of electrodes spaced apart from one another and positioned in the intermediate channel of the harvested material processing channel to form a plurality of capacitors, the measuring device configured to measure electrical capacitances of the plurality of capacitors; wherein the forage harvester is configured to determine one or both of delivery-specific parameters or material-specific parameters from measurements of the electrical capacitances of the plurality of capacitors; wherein the harvested material processing channel further includes a conditioning apparatus configured to condition the harvested material; wherein the conditioning apparatus is positioned between the cutterhead and the post-acceleration drum; and wherein the plurality of electrodes are positioned in the intermediate channel between the cutterhead and the conditioning apparatus.

7 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein one or both of:
the capacitors are positioned in the intermediate channel along a transverse direction transverse to direction of flow of the harvested material; or the electrodes of the capacitors are sufficiently spaced from each other relative to a height direction that is oriented transverse to the direction of the flow of the harvested material and transverse to the transverse direction so that the flow of the harvested material through the capacitors.

8 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein at least one electrode of at least one capacitor and at least one electrode of at least one additional capacitor form an intermediate capacitor; and
wherein distance between the at least one electrode of the at least one capacitor and the at least one electrode of at least one additional capacitor that form the intermediate capacitor is greater than the distance between electrodes of the at least one capacitor and electrodes of the at least one additional capacitor.

9 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein a single electrode is positioned at a distance from the plurality of electrodes with respect to a height direction; and
wherein the single electrode forms a plurality of capacitors with all of the plurality of electrodes that are spaced apart with respect to the height direction.

10 . The forage harvester of claim 9 , wherein one or both of:
the single electrode has a greater distance with respect to a transverse direction than the plurality of electrodes spaced apart from each other with respect to a height direction; or the single electrode has a greater distance along the transverse direction than a sum of distances in the transverse direction of all of the plurality of electrodes spaced apart with respect to the height direction.

11 . The forage harvester of claim 10 , wherein at least two electrodes spaced from each other with respect to a transverse direction, whose position coincides with respect to a height direction, form a transverse capacitor.

12 . The forage harvester of claim 1 , wherein at least one electrode of at least one capacitor and at least one electrode of at least one additional capacitor form at least one intermediate capacitor;
wherein at least two electrodes spaced from each other with respect to a transverse direction, whose position coincides with respect to a height direction, form at least one transverse capacitor; wherein the measuring device includes a control and regulating apparatus that is configured to detect one or more of the electrical capacitance of the plurality of capacitors, the electrical capacitance of the at least one intermediate capacitor, or the electrical capacitance of the at least one transverse capacitor; wherein the control and regulating apparatus is configured to determine a transverse distribution of the harvested material based on the one or more of the electrical capacitance of the plurality of capacitors, the electrical capacitance of at least one intermediate capacitor, or the electrical capacitance of at least one transverse capacitor; and wherein the control and regulation apparatus is configured to control one or more actuators of one or both of the att

Assignees

• Claas Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen Gmbh

Inventors

• Lehmann Christoph
• Neitemeier Dennis
• Heitmann Christoph

Classifications

• A01D41/06

  Combines with headers · CPC title

• A01D41/02

  Self-propelled combines · CPC title

• G01F1/002

  wherein the flow is in an open channel · CPC title

• G01F1/56

  by using electric or magnetic effects (G01F1/66 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01F23/263

  by measuring variations in capacitance of capacitors · CPC title