JP2009178045A - Method for detecting ear tip position of reaped grain culm - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for detecting the position of a grain culm, reducing the frequency of the regulation of an attaching position and facilitating the position regulation in a sensor for detecting the position of the grain culm in a combine harvester. <P>SOLUTION: The means for detecting the position of the grain culm in the combine harvester is constituted as follows. One distance-measuring sensor 1 is installed in the upper side of a conveyor 14, and the distance between two positions of the root side and the ear tip side of the grain culm is measured alternately in time series by the distance-measuring sensor 1. The layer thickness of the grain culms is calculated by the distance to the grain culm, and the position of the ear tip of the grain culm is estimated from the layer thickness. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for detecting the tip position of a harvested cereal meal.

  The front part of the combine body is composed of a pulling device that causes corn straw, a cutting device that cuts the stock of the caused corn straw, and a conveying device that sandwiches the middle part of the harvested corn straw and sends it to the feed chain behind The cereal cutting and conveying device is provided, and the tip side of the cereal that has been handed over from the conveying device to the feed chain is threshed by the threshing device. The cereals being transferred by the transport device are detected by detecting the position of the tip of the culm with the cereal sensor and adjusting the feed device while laterally moving the feed device so that the tip side is supplied to the optimum position of the threshing device. To be handed over.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-320936 describes a configuration in which a contact-type grain culm sensor is provided in a dustproof cover of a cutting part.
JP 2001-320936 A

  The cedar sensor is provided in two places sandwiching the tip of the tip for contact type sensors that contact the cereal and detect the tip passage position of the cereal, and the tip passes through the middle of both sensors. The position is detected. For this reason, if the culm length is different, the mounting position of both sensors must be adjusted. The adjustment of the mounting positions of these two culm sensors must be frequently performed if there is a difference in the culm length even in the same field, which is troublesome.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a culm position detecting means that reduces the frequency of attachment position adjustment and that can be easily adjusted in the combine culm position detection sensor.

  The present invention takes the following technical means in order to solve the above-described problems. That is, in the first aspect of the present invention, one distance measuring sensor (1) is provided on the upper side of the conveying device (14), and at this distance measuring sensor (1), at least the distance to the stock side of the cereal and the tip side Measures the distance to the chronological position alternately, calculates the layer thickness of the culm based on the measurement result, and estimates the position of the culm tip from the layer thickness. It was a method.

Thereby, the conveyance position of the grain straw by the conveying apparatus 14 can be detected with the single distance measuring sensor 1, and the movement adjustment which makes the tip passage position optimal can be performed.
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that either or both of the distance measuring time and the distance measuring period of the distance measuring sensor (1) are changed in accordance with the traveling speed of the combine. The method of detecting the tip position of the harvested cereal rice bran.

  Thereby, the culm position information corresponding to the variation in the amount of the cultivated culm that changes depending on the cutting speed is detected.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in order to estimate the position of the culm by detecting the layer thickness of the culm tip side and the stock source side with a single distance measuring sensor 1, distance measurement is performed with a slight difference in culm length. There is no need to change the mounting position of the sensor 1, and the adjustment of the mounting can be performed easily because there is only one when changing the mounting position of the distance measuring sensor 1 because the culm length is extremely different.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the harvesting speed of the culm is increased, the position of the culm is quickly detected by the transporting device 14, so that the transport position can be corrected without any trouble.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this description, left and right refer to the side located in the traveling direction of the aircraft.
As shown in FIG. 1, a crawler traveling device 9 having a pair of left and right traveling crawlers 11 traveling on the soil surface is disposed on the lower side of the combine body 10, and a weed fence 12 is provided on the front end side of the body 10. A mowing unit 13 is provided. There is a cabin 16 with a cockpit above the mowing unit 13, and above the vehicle body 10, the cereals harvested by the mowing unit 13 and conveyed by the conveying device 14 are taken over by the feed chain 15 and conveyed. A threshing device 19 for threshing and sorting is provided on the left rear side of the cabin 16, and a Glen tank 17 for temporarily storing the grains threshed and sorted by the threshing device 19 is arranged on the right side of the threshing device. The auger 18 is connected to the rear part of the grain tank 17 so as to be able to move up and down, and the grain in the grain tank 17 is discharged from the outlet 20 provided at the tip of the auger 18 to the grain tank of the truck stopped near the combine. It is configured.

  On the side surface of the take-out port 20 of the auger 18, a lodging sensor 21 is provided toward the grain culm planted in front of the cutting unit 13. This lodging sensor 21 is a sensor that measures the distance using a laser beam, infrared rays, or ultrasonic waves, and calculates the length of the cereal by subtracting the distance to the cereal from the previously input or measured distance to the ground. However, when the calculated culm length is extremely shorter than the normal culm length, it is determined that the culm has fallen and the traveling speed is controlled. The lodging sensor 21 may be attached to the tip of a stay provided to project forward from the cutting unit 13.

  The conveying device 14 is moved and adjusted in the left-right direction of the machine body by a hydraulic cylinder (not shown), and the cedar adjusted so that the tip of the cereal passes through the appropriate position of the threshing device 19 is delivered to the feed chain 15. One distance measuring sensor 1 for detecting the position of the stock and tip position of the cereal held between the conveying device 14 is attached to the lower surface of the cover 2 on the upper side of the conveying device 14. The distance measuring sensor 1 is a non-contact type sensor using a laser beam, infrared rays, or ultrasonic waves. As shown in FIG. 2, the relationship between the distance from the sensor to the object to be measured and the voltage is indicated by a reference line SA in the figure. Is detected as a sensor output voltage value. The distances A and B in the figure are the stock measurement position and the tip measurement position. For example, when the voltage K is detected at the stock measurement position A and the voltage H is detected at the tip measurement position B, this voltage and the reference line The voltage difference KV from the SA voltage is detected as the layer thickness on the stock side, and the voltage difference HV is detected as the layer thickness on the tip side.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the distance measuring sensor 1 irradiates the stock source beam 5 and the tip beam 6 in the horizontal direction from the light emitting unit LED, and the irradiation position PA of the stock source beam 5 and the irradiation position PB of the tip beam 6. The reflected light is received by the light receiving unit PSD, the distance is measured, and the difference from the distance to each irradiation position is detected as the layer thickness of the cereal. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the measurement values within the predetermined measurement time of the irradiation positions PA and PB are alternately input to the controller. The measurement time for the irradiation positions PA and PB is shortened as the traveling speed of the aircraft increases, so as to respond to changes in the supply status.

  In the controller, the distance is measured a plurality of times within the measurement time, but the measurement distance is weighted and averaged to obtain the average thickness of the measurement time. Further, an upper limit layer thickness and a lower limit layer thickness for estimating the tip position are provided, and the transport device 14 is moved when the measured average layer thickness continues to exceed the upper limit layer thickness or the lower limit layer thickness for a predetermined time. Take control. That is, when the upper limit layer thickness is exceeded, the transfer device 14 is moved to the stock side, and when it is equal to or less than the lower limit layer thickness, the transfer device 14 is moved to the tip side. The control data for the upper limit layer thickness and the lower limit layer thickness can be changed manually and independently, and the operator can input and change the layer thickness. The control signal from the controller to the valve that controls the hydraulic cylinder of the transfer device 14 is corrected quickly by continuously outputting the control signal when the correction width is large, and the control signal is output in pulses when the correction value is small. Correct slowly.

  FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which the tip detection sensor 7 and the stock-source detection sensor 8 are provided separately to detect the layer pressure on the tip side and the stock-source side separately. A distance measuring sensor is attached to the cover 2 so that the front side is the light emitting unit LED and the rear side is the light receiving unit PSD with respect to the transfer direction HO of the corn straw KO, and a weed detection sensor ( (Not shown) is provided to detect weeds longer than the cereal straw.

  FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which the cocoon layer sensor 23 for detecting the grain layer of the oscillating shelf 22 provided in the threshing device 19 is a distance measuring sensor. Subtract the distance to calculate the heel layer thickness. Since the swing shelf 22 swings up and down, the thickness at the top dead center or lower fulcrum of the swing shelf 22 measured in advance is subtracted from the distance measured at the top dead center or the lower fulcrum. Is calculated.

  FIG. 7 is a control block diagram of the controller 40 that performs various automatic control of the combine. The signals from the handling depth control automatic switch 30, the tip side detection sensor 7, the stock side detection sensor 8, and the threshing clutch switch 33 are digital. The signal is input to the control confirmation execution means 39 through the signal input processing circuit 36. Further, a signal from the other sensor 31 is input to the control confirmation execution means 39 through the analog signal input processing circuit 37.

Signals from the engine rotation sensor 34 and the vehicle speed sensor 35 are input to the travel detection means 41 through the pulse signal input processing circuit 38.
Information signals are input / output among the control confirmation execution means 39, the travel detection means 41, the timer count means 42, and the handling depth control means 43, and the supply depth output signal 44 is output from the handling depth control means 43. A supply shallow output signal 45 is output.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of control confirmation for confirming whether automatic control operates normally without actually moving the combine.
First, it is determined in step S1 whether the mode check has been completed. If it has been completed, a control confirmation mode determination in step S2 is performed. If this determination is YES, a step S3 engine stop output is started, and an automatic operation is performed in step S4. Execute the control confirmation mode and return. If NO, return as is. The control confirmation mode is set by simultaneously operating a plurality of switches or levers provided in the driver's seat for a certain period of time.

  If the determination in step S1 is NO, the control start time is counted in step S5, the control start time elapse is determined in step S6, and if this determination is YES, the mode confirmation end is stored in step S16, and the return To do.

  If the determination in step S6 is NO, the switch input monitoring time in step S7 is counted, the switch input monitoring time elapses in step S8, and if this determination is YES, the control confirmation mode is stored in step S15. In step S16, the end of mode confirmation is stored, and the process returns.

  If the determination in step S8 is NO, the switch input is read in step S9, and it is determined in step S10 that the horn switch is being operated. If this determination is NO, the switch input monitoring time is initialized in step S17 and the process returns.

  If the determination in step S10 is YES, a determination is made during operation of the mode changeover switch in step S11. If this determination is NO, the switch input monitoring time is initialized in step S17 and the process returns.

  If the determination in step S11 is YES, it is determined in step S12 whether the engine rotation sensor is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. If this determination is NO, in step S13, it is determined whether the vehicle speed sensor is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. If NO, the step S14 no mowing and threshing lever determines whether to enter, and if this determination is also NO, the process directly returns.

If the determination in step S12, step S13, or step S14 is YES, the mode check end is stored in step S18, and the process returns.
FIG. 9 is an operation confirmation flowchart of the handling depth control.

  In the control confirmation mode determination in step S20, if this determination is NO, the process returns without doing anything. If this determination is YES, the switch and sensor data are read in step S21, and the handling depth control switch “ON” determination is performed in step S22. If this determination is NO, the process returns without doing anything. If this determination is YES, the data corresponding to the engine speed rating is forcibly input in step S23, the data corresponding to the vehicle speed of 0.5 m / S is forcibly input in step S24, and the data of the lever input for cutting and threshing is forced in step S25. In step S26, the data of the cereal detection sensor is forcibly input, and the handling depth in step S27 and the tip sensor are determined to be on. If this determination is YES, shallow handling output is started in step S29, and the process returns. If this determination is NO, the handling depth in step S28 and the stock sensor are determined to be off. If this determination is YES, negative depth handling output is started in step S30, and the process returns. If this determination is NO, the process returns as it is.

FIG. 10 is a control block diagram of the engine controller.
Signals input to the controller 50 are the temperature of the engine cooling water from the water temperature sensor 51, the output shaft rotational speed from the rotation sensor 52, the engine vibration amplitude from the vibration sensor 53, and the on / off state of the automatic load control switch 56. An off signal and a control signal from the microcomputer checker 57. An engine speed command is issued from the controller 50 to the electronic carburetor 55, and the engine speed and abnormal state are displayed on the monitor 54.

The abnormal state is an engine overheat, engine rotation outside control, excessive engine vibration, or the like, and this abnormal state is displayed even when the load automatic control switch 56 is on.
From the microcomputer checker 57, it is confirmed by the test signal of the main shift lever forward / reverse operation test signal, the threshing lever input test signal, and the soot discharge lever test signal whether the engine rises to a predetermined rotational speed.

Combine side view Output diagram of distance measuring sensor Action explanatory diagram of the cereal sensor Output time chart of the cereal sensor Kernel sensor plan view of another embodiment Cross-sectional side view of swing rack inside threshing device Control block diagram Control flow chart Control flow chart Engine control block diagram

Explanation of symbols

1 Distance measuring sensor 14 Conveying device

Claims (2)

One distance measuring sensor (1) is provided on the upper side of the conveying device (14), and at this distance measuring sensor (1), at least the distance to the stock side of the cereal and the distance to the tip side are alternately arranged in time series. A method for detecting the tip position of a harvested cereal cocoon, comprising measuring, calculating the layer thickness of the cereal based on the measurement result, and estimating the tip position of the culm from the layer thickness. 2. The method for detecting the tip position of a cut grain culm according to claim 1, wherein either or both of the distance measuring time and the distance measuring period of the distance measuring sensor (1) are changed in accordance with the traveling speed of the combine.

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