Weight-based chute control for a farm implement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9272853-B2
Application number	US-201414213095-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for discharging material from a chute on a farm implement into a container or bin such that the discharged material is evenly distributed in the container or bin. The system and method includes a farm implement with a bin for holding material, a conveyor for discharging material from the bin and a chute at the end of the conveyor for directing the material discharged from the conveyor. The chute may be moved into a plurality of positions based on sensor outputs to facilitate the even distribution of material in the container or bin receiving the discharged material.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus for conveying material from a farm implement into a container, comprising:
a container for holding an agricultural material;
a conveyor including a first end configured to receive material from said container and a second end configured to discharge material; and
a chute including a first end pivotably coupled to the second end of the conveyor and a second end configured to discharge material, wherein the first end of the chute is pivotable relative to the second end of the conveyor about a first axis of rotation such that the second end of the chute is moveable in a first plane;
a chute positioning device for pivoting said chute about said first axis;
a sensor for measuring a weight of the material in said container and providing a sensor output indicative of the weight measurement; and
a controller in communication with said sensor output, said controller being configured to:
send a control signal to said chute positioning device to pivot said chute in a first direction about said first axis of rotation to a first position;
send a control signal to said conveyor to cause material from said container to be discharged from said chute; and
when the weight measurement meets a predefined threshold, send a control signal to said chute positioning device to pivot said chute in a second direction different than said first direction about said first axis of rotation into a second position.

2. A method for discharging material from a farm implement evenly into a container, the farm implement including a bin for holding the material and a conveyor with a chute at one end for discharging the material from the bin into the container, the method comprising the steps of:
positioning the farm implement relative to the container so that the chute is near a center of the container;
starting an unload process on a controller, wherein the unload process includes:
sending a first chute control signal from the controller to a first chute positioning device to move the chute to a first position;
sending a first discharge control signal to cause material to be discharged from the bin into the container via the conveyor with the chute in the first position;
monitoring at the controller sensor signals indicative of a weight of the material remaining in the bin;
when the controller determines that a first target weight has been reached, sending a second chute control signal from the controller to the first chute positioning device to move the chute to a second position; and
when the controller determines that a second target weight has been reached, sending a third chute control signal from the controller to a second chute positioning device to move the chute to a third position.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said first and second chute control signals cause the chute to rotate about a first axis of rotation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said third chute control signal causes the chute to rotate about a second axis of rotation perpendicular to the first axis of rotation.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising, when the controller determines that a third target weight has been reached, sending a second discharge control signal to stop the discharge of material from the bin into the container.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said first and second discharge control signals control the conveyor.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of inputting a target weight to be discharged for each position.

Assignees

• Unverferth Mfg Co Inc

Inventors

• Van Mill Michael D
• Schlimgen Ronald J
• Gerdeman Shawn W

Classifications

• B65G67/04 Primary

  Loading land vehicles {(loading or unloading boats to or from land vehicles B60P3/10)} · CPC title

• B60P1/42

  mounted on the load-transporting element · CPC title

• B65G2814/027

  using chutes · CPC title

• B65G11/126

  for bulk · CPC title

• B65G2203/0258

  Weight of the article · CPC title