GB2133548A

GB2133548A - A monitoring device for agricultural vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2133548A
Application number: GB08328471A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Johannes Schimmel
Original assignee: Steyr Daimler Puch AG
Current assignee: Steyr Daimler Puch AG
Priority date: 1982-10-25
Filing date: 1983-10-25
Publication date: 1984-07-25
Also published as: GB8328471D0; IT8323402A0; ATA389982A; AT383431B; GB2133548B; FR2535078B1; DE3338350A1; IT1169879B; DE3338350C2; FR2535078A1

Abstract

Electrical pick-ups (2) are provided to monitor the rotational speed and torque of an agricultural vehicle engine (1) and a microcomputer (4), which is pre-set to at least one optimum driving figure, is interposed between the pick-ups and a screen indicator (3). The screen (3a) comprises a marking (7) in the form of a point corresponding to the said optimum driving figure. Two coordinate directions on the screen represent torque and rotational speed respectively, and the deviation from optimum working conditions is displayed (distance 6-7). Accordingly, the vehicle driver may optimise the torque by changing gear and the speed by adjusting the throttle. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An auxiliary device for agricultural vehicles or vehicle/implement combinations The invention relates to an auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in an agricultural vehicle (e.g. tractor)/implement combination or in a self propelled agricultural vehicle.

A tractor cooperating with an agricultural implement may be driven in an optimum manner in various ways, depending on whether it is a question of saving fuel or, depending upon the structure and organization of the farm in question or weather conditions and other circumstances, of driving so as to save time, i.e. with a high power/surface ratio. At all events it is a question of the cost reduction to be achieved in each case. Where there is a high assessment of the time required, i.e. where extra costs for the working time of the operators are high, a time-saving mode of driving will be chosen since the automatically resulting increase in fuel costs is of minor importance compared with costs of the working time.Where there is a low assessment of the time required, i.e. where extra costs per hour of working time are low, it is of course more economic to drive in such a way as to save fuel. By choosing a specific mode of driving, which may be expressed in figures in a corresponding ratio of time costs to the fuel costs, it is possible to obtain optimum figures which may be considered to be the minimum of total costs per surface unit worked. The remarks made here in connection with a tractor cooperating with an implement also apply to self-propelled agricultural vehicles and the like.

In known auxiliary device the travelling velocity of the tractor on the one hand and the fuel flow per unit of time on the other are fed to a screen indicator, and the screen displays an indicating point in each case, the abscissa of which corresponds to the performance in hectars per hour and the ordinate of which corresponds to the working costs per hectar. A relatively wide range is marked on the screen as a range of favourable driving figures. This has the disadvantage that it is difficult for the driver to move the indicating point into the favourable range when using the means readily available to him, namely the driving lever and the gear-shifting lever, it being quite impossible to determine the actual optimum figures.

Accordingly, the object of the invention is to overcome these deficiences and to provide an auxiliary device which will permit the driver to obtain the actual optimum figures by simple means.

Accordingly, the invention provides in one aspect an auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in tractors or the like cooperating with an implement with a screen indicator controlled by electrical pick-ups for the correlation of two values which are fed in, wherein one pick-up is provided in each case for the rotational speed and the torque of the tractor engine and a microcomputer pre-set to at least one optimum driving figure is interposed between the pick-ups and the screen indicator, the screen comprising a marking in the form of a point corresponding to the said optimum driving figure.

In another aspect the invention provides an auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in an agricultural vehicle/implement combination or in a self-propelled agricultural vehicle, comprising first and second signal generators for providing signals representative of the rotational speed and torque, respectively, of the vehicle engine, a display and a micro computer pre-settable to at least one optimum driving figure, the display being for displaying an indication of said optimum driving figure and an indication of the actual driving figure.

The invention is based on the fact that the rotational speed and the torque of the vehicle engine are the parameters which are of decisive importance in the assessment of the respective operating costs of the vehicle or vehicle/implement combination. The indicating point produced on the screen (or other display) has coordinates corresponding to the rotational speed and the torque of the engine and its position can then be easily be changed by the driver, since it is only necessary to increase or decrease the rotational speed of the engine by actuating the driving lever or to influence the torque of the engine by changing to another gear speed.Since the optimum driving figure on the screen is indicated by a marking in the form of a point, the indicating point may be moved with the aid of the driving lever or the gear-shifting lever so as to coincide exactly with the marking and in this way the optimum driving figure in each case may in fact be attained. The microcomputer is advantageously set by the manufacturer to the particulars of the respective vehicle or vehicle/implement combination, such as vehicle weight, nature of the tyres, position of centre of gravity, engine characteristics and the like and may also be adapted to the respective operating conditions. Either the saving of fuel or the saving of time or an intermediate value between the two will represent the optimum driving figure in the presetting.

Advantageously, there is a plurality of preset optimum driving figures, and means for selecting the optimum driving figure desired in each case. It is, therefore, up to the driver whether he wishes to drive the vehicle or vehicle/implement combination in the optimum manner so as to save fuel or to save time or to meet another criterion.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates one embodiment of an auxiliary device according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing, electrical pick-ups 2, which control a screen indicator 3 (or other display), are provided for the rotational speed and the torque of the engine 1 of a tractor cooperating with an implement. A microcomputer 4 is interposed between the pick-ups 2 and the screen indicator 3. The microcomputer 4 may be optionally set with the aid of switches 5 to one of three pre-programmed driving figures, these being fuel saving, time saving or an intermediate value between the two. An indicating point 6, the coordinates of which correspond to the rotational speed and the torque of the tractor engine, appears on the screen 3a. The optimum driving figure is indicated by a marking 7 in the form of a point, the concentric circular lines about the said marking point 7 representing positions of equal deviation from the optimum driving figure. When the optimum driving figure desired in each case is selected with the aid of the switches 5, the marking 7 does not change, but only the coordinate system is moved or the scale is changed.

Claims

1. An auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in tractors or the like cooperating with an implement with a screen indicator controlled by electrical pick-ups for the correlation of two values which are fed in, wherein one pick-up is provided in each case for the rotational speed and the torque of the tractor engine and a microcomputer pre-set to at least one optimum driving figure is interposed between the pick-ups and the screen indicator, the screen comprising a marking in the form of a point corresponding to the said optimum driving figure.

2. An auxiliary device according to Claim 1, wherein there is a plurality of pre-set optimum driving figures, and means for selecting the optimum driving figure desired in each case.

3. An agricultural vehicle/implement combination or a self-propelled agricultural vehicle having an auxiliary device as claimed in anyone of the preceding claims.

3. An auxiliary device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.

4. An auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in an agricultural vehicle/implement combination or in a self propelled agricultural vehicle, comprising first and second signal generators for providing signals representative to the rotational speed and torque, respectively, of the vehicle engine, a display and a micro computer presettable to at least one optimum driving figure, the display being for displaying an indication of said optimum driving figure and an indication of the actual driving figure.

1. An auxiliary device for achieving optimum driving figures in an agricultural vehicle/implement combination or in a self propelled agricultural vehicle, comprising a display, a micro-computer pre-settable to at least one optimum driving figure and arranged to produce on the display an optimum driving figure point corresponding to the preset optimum driving figure, and first and second signal generators for providing signals representative of the rotational speed and the torque, respectively, of the vehicle engine, the device being arranged so as to produce on the display an actual driving figure point corresponding to the rotational speed signal and the torque signal, whereby the actual driving figure point can be moved on the display by adjusting an accelerator of the vehicle and by changing gear until the actual and optimum driving figure points coincide.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the micro-computer is pre-settable to anyone of a plurality of optimum driving figures, and means are provided for selecting the optimum driving figure desired in each case.