Calibration of tensioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9402349-B2
Application number	US-201414259513-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2014
Priority date	Apr 23, 2014
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

A sensor assembly and method are described for calibrating a tensioning system. A first movement of a slack arm of the tensioning system may be identified. It may be determined that the slack arm has been maintained in a first calibration position for a first predetermined time interval, and a first calibration setting for the slack arm may be determined based upon the first calibration position. A second movement of a slack arm of the tensioning system may be identified. It may be determined that the slack arm has been maintained in a second calibration position for a second predetermined time interval, and a second calibration setting for the slack arm may be determined based upon the identified second calibration position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of calibrating a tensioning system, the computer-implement method comprising:
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, one or more signals from a sensor in communication with a slack arm;
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the slack arm for calibration;
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a first movement of the slack arm;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the slack arm has been maintained in a first calibration position, after the identified first movement, for at least a first predetermined time interval;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first calibration setting for the slack arm based upon, at least in part, the determined first calibration position;
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a second movement of the slack arm;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the slack arm has been maintained in a second calibration position, after the identified second movement, for at least a second predetermined time interval;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a second calibration setting for the slack arm based upon, at least in part, the determined second calibration position; and
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a current position of the slack arm throughout a range of motion during operation based upon, at least in part, at least one of the determined first and second calibration settings.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the identifying of the first movement, the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in the first calibration position, the identifying of the second movement, and the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in the second calibration position is based upon, at least in part, the one or more signals from the sensor in communication with the slack arm.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the sensor includes a potentiometer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more signals includes a voltage change of at least a predetermined number of volts, and one or more of the first movement and the second movement is identified based upon, at least in part, the voltage change.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more signals includes a steady voltage signal deviating from a reference voltage by less than a predetermined number of volts for one of the first and the second predetermined time intervals; and
wherein the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in one of the first calibration position and the second calibration position is based upon, at least in part, the steady voltage signal.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first predetermined time interval and the second predetermined time interval includes an interval of approximately two or more seconds.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one of the first predetermined time interval and the second predetermined time interval includes an interval of approximately five or more seconds.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing one or more of an aural indicator and a visual indicator based upon, at least in part, one or more of the identifying the slack arm for calibration, the identifying at least one of the first or second movements of the slack arm, the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in one of the first calibration position and the second calibration position, and the determining at least one of the first and second calibration settings.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying, during operation of the tensioning system, an indicator of the determined current position of the slack arm.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first calibration position corresponds to a first extremum of movement of the slack arm when the slack arm is operationally mounted in the tensioning system and the second calibration position corresponds to a second extremum of movement of the slack arm when the slack arm is operationally mounted in the tensioning system.

11. A calibration system for a tensioning system, the calibration system comprising:
a slack arm included in the tensioning system;
a sensor device in communication with the slack arm;
one or more processor devices coupled to one or more memory architectures, the one or more processor devices configured to:
identify a first movement of the slack arm;
determine that the slack arm has been maintained in a first calibration position, after the identified first movement, for at least a first predetermined time interval;
determine a first calibration setting for the slack arm based upon, at least in part, the determined first calibration position;
identify a second movement of the slack arm;
determine that the slack arm has been maintained in a second calibration position, after the identified second movement, for at least a second predetermined time interval;
determine a second calibration setting for the slack arm based upon, at least in part, the determined second calibration position; and
determine a current position of the slack arm throughout a range of motion during operation based upon, at least in part, at least one of the determined first and second calibration settings.

12. The calibration system of claim 11 , wherein one or more of the identifying of the first movement, the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in the first calibration position, the identifying of the second movement, and the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in the second calibration position is based upon, at least in part, identifying one or more signals from a sensor in communication with the slack arm.

13. The calibration system of claim 12 , wherein the sensor includes a potentiometer.

14. The calibration system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more signals includes a voltage change of at least approximately 0.1 volts, and one or more of the first movement and the second movement is identified based upon, at least in part, the voltage change.

15. The calibration system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more signals includes a steady voltage signal deviating from a reference voltage by less than approximately 0.2 volts for one of the first and the second predetermined time intervals; and
wherein the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in one of the first calibration position and the second calibration position is based upon, at least in part, the steady voltage signal.

16. The calibration system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first predetermined time interval and the second predetermined time interval includes an interval of approximately two or more seconds.

17. The calibration system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one of the first predetermined time interval and the second predetermined time interval includes an interval of approximately five or more seconds.

18. The calibration system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processor devices is further configured to provide one or more of an aural indicator and a visual indicator based upon, at least in part, one or more of the identifying the slack arm for calibration, the identifying at least one of the first or second movements of the slack arm, the determining that the slack arm has been maintained in one of the first cal

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Chaney Nathan A

Classifications

• G01B7/00

  Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electric or magnetic techniques · CPC title

• A01F15/148 Primary

  Monitoring the tying, e.g. mistie detectors · CPC title

• G01L25/006 Primary

  for measuring work or mechanical power or mechanical efficiency · CPC title