System for controlling work lights in a forestry machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9403474-B2
Application number	US-201414894957-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2014
Priority date	Jun 3, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for controlling work lights in a forestry machine, which system includes a harvester head ( 16 ), attached to the set of booms ( 14 ) of the forestry machine ( 10 ), for felling and processing trees, at least one work light ( 20 ) attached to the harvester head ( 16 ) for illuminating the harvester head ( 16 ) and its surroundings, and control means ( 15 ) for controlling the operation of the work light ( 20 ). The control means ( 15 ) are the valve control unit ( 25 ) belonging to the harvester head ( 16 ) for controlling the valves of the harvester head ( 16 ), which control unit ( 25 ) is arranged to feed power and/or control the power feed to the said work light ( 20 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for controlling work lights in a forestry machine, the system comprising:
a harvester head attached to a set of booms of the forestry machine, the harvester head including a cutting device for felling and processing trees;
at least one work light for illuminating the harvester head and its surroundings, the at least one work light attached to the harvester head and oriented to illuminate the cutting device; and
a valve control unit for controlling the operation of the work light and valves of the harvester head, the valve control unit attached to the harvester head, where the valve control unit can either feed power to the work light, control power feed to the work light, or both.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the work light is a LED light.

3. The system of claim 1 , where the valve control unit comprises a plurality of valve-control outputs, where the control unit is arranged to feed power to the work light through at least one of the plurality of valve-control outputs.

4. The system of claim 1 , where the valve control unit comprises an input for external control.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor for producing a control variable for the valve control unit.

6. The system of claim 1 , where the valve control unit comprises a processor and a a software module including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling the work light on the basis of at least one preset criterion.

7. The system of claim 5 , where the sensor is a PECU switch for controlling the work light according to a level of illumination.

8. The system of claim 1 , where in the valve control unit is coupled to controllers located in a cab of the forestry machine.

9. The system of claim 1 , where the valve control unit comprises a processor and a software module including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling the work light according to work stages of the harvester head.

10. The system of claim 1 , where the valve control unit comprises a processor and a software module including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling the work light according to time of at least one of year and day.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of work lights, where the valve control unit comprises a processor and a software module including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling at least some of the plurality of work lights according to the work stages of either the harvester head, the forestry machine, or both.

Assignees

• Ponsse Oyj

Inventors

• Kaatrasalo Tero
• Hotti Eero

Classifications

• A01G23/093

  Combinations of shearing, sawing or milling apparatus specially adapted for felling trees · CPC title

• B60Q1/0483

  mounted on a bracket, e.g. details concerning the mouting of the lamps on the vehicle body · CPC title

• A01G23/083 Primary

  Feller-delimbers · CPC title

• A01G23/091 Primary

  Sawing apparatus specially adapted for felling trees (A01G23/081, A01G23/083, A01G23/093 take precedence) · CPC title

• E02F9/22

  Hydraulic or pneumatic drives {(for dipper or bucket arm position control E02F3/43, for blade position control for graders E02F3/844; for turntables E02F9/121; for fork-lift trucks B66F9/22)} · CPC title