JP2011067103A - Device and method for controlling agricultural implement - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the amount of agrochemical applied or the rotational speed of a blade edge in response to a swing speed of an agrochemical applicator and an agricultural brush cutter. <P>SOLUTION: The device and the method for controlling an agricultural instrument include measuring the swing speed of rightward and leftward movement of a body (44) having an operating member (45) at the end by an inertial sensor (40), and controlling the operating state of the operating member (45) according to the swing speed by a controller (50). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control device and method for agricultural equipment, and more particularly, to a novel improvement for controlling the amount of sprayed agricultural chemical or the rotational speed of a blade edge in accordance with the swing speed of an agricultural chemical sprayer and an agricultural mower.

As a technique for controlling the operation using this type of inertial sensor that has been conventionally used, for example, a position and orientation detection method of a movable body disclosed in Patent Document 1 described later can be cited.
The method of Patent Document 1 is configured as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
That is, FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the position and orientation detection device 10. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the robot 20 and the plurality of cameras 13A, 13B, and 13C. A position and orientation detection device (hereinafter simply referred to as “position and orientation detection device”) 10 is a reference point set on a movable body such as a tool 30 connected to a wrist 24 of a robot 20 such as an industrial robot. The position and the posture of the tool 30 are detected, and the slide displacement and angular displacement of the tool 30 are controlled.

  The robot 20 is, for example, a 6-axis vertical articulated robot. The robot 20 includes a base portion 21, a lower arm 22, an upper arm 23, and a wrist 24. The base portion 21 can turn around a first axis J1 extending in the vertical direction. The lower arm 22 is connected to the base portion 21 so as to be angularly displaceable about a second axis J2 extending in the horizontal direction. The upper arm 23 is connected to the upper end portion of the lower arm 22 so that the base end portion thereof can be angularly displaced about the third axis J3 extending in the horizontal direction. The wrist 24 can be angularly displaced about a fourth axis J4 extending parallel to the axis of the upper arm 23, and can be angularly displaced about a fifth axis J5 perpendicular to the fourth axis J4. Connected. The wrist 24 has a flange 25 that can be angularly displaced about a sixth axis J6 perpendicular to the fifth axis J5. A tool 30 such as a hand, a welding torch, and a sensor is connected to the flange 25 via a tool changer (not shown) provided on the flange 25.

  The position / orientation detection apparatus 10 includes a target unit 11, an LED drive unit 12, a camera 13, an image processing unit 14, a gyro sensor 15, an acceleration sensor 16, a signal processing unit 17, a calculation unit 18, and a robot control unit 19. ing.

The above method is only a method for detecting the posture of a robot etc. using a known inertial sensor, but in the case of general agricultural chemical spraying and mowing equipment, it is used by swinging left and right to spread medicines over a wide range In the case of spraying in a narrow area, the amount of drug applied was always constant.
Further, in the case of the mowing apparatus, when the amount of grass to be cut is large, the swing speed to the left and right is slow, and when there is little grass, the swing speed is increased and the rotation speed of the blade edge is constant.

JP 2005-283600 A

Since the conventional control device and method for agricultural equipment are configured as described above, the following problems exist.
That is, in the method for detecting the position of a robot or the like by the inertial sensor disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, no application of the control method to the farm equipment or the like is disclosed, and the farm equipment is manually operated according to the work state of the worker. There was no way but to control.
Therefore, in the agricultural mower, the rotation speed of the blade edge is determined according to the accelerator opening of the rotation drive unit, the operator must manually adjust the accelerator according to the amount of grass, The burden on workers has increased.
Similarly, in the agricultural chemical spraying apparatus, when the amount of the medicine applied is constant regardless of the speed of the swing operation, the medicine spraying distribution varies.

  The control device for an agricultural implement according to the present invention is configured to measure a swing speed of a left-right motion of a main body having an operating body at a tip with an inertial sensor, and to control an operating state of the operating body according to the swing speed by the control device. Further, the operating body is composed of a pesticide sprayer, the main body is provided with the inertial sensor, and the main body is connected to a pesticide tank via a signal line and a hose, and the operation The body is composed of a cutting edge of an agricultural mower, the base of the main body is connected to a rotation drive unit, and the rotation drive unit is provided with the inertial sensor and a control device. The method for controlling an agricultural implement according to the invention measures the swing speed of a left-right motion of a main body having an operating body at the tip by an inertial sensor, and controls the operating state of the operating body by a control device according to the swing speed. The operating body is a pesticide sprayer, the main body is provided with the inertial sensor, and the main body is connected to the pesticide tank via a signal line and a hose. Further, the operating body comprises a cutting edge of an agricultural mower, the base portion of the main body is connected to a rotation driving unit, and the inertial sensor and the control device are provided in the rotation driving unit. .

Since the control device and method for agricultural machinery according to the present invention are configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
That is, the swing speed of the left-right movement of the main body having the operating body at the tip is measured by an inertial sensor, and the operating state of the operating body is controlled by the control device according to the swing speed, so that the painting is performed according to the swing speed. The operating state such as the amount or the rotational speed can be controlled, and the workability of the operator can be improved.
Further, the operating body is composed of a pesticide sprayer, and the inertia sensor is provided in the main body, and the main body is connected to the pesticide tank via a signal line and a hose, so that the swing speed of the operator can be increased. The amount of pesticide sprayed can be automatically controlled accordingly.
Further, the operating body is composed of a cutting edge of an agricultural mower, the base of the main body is connected to a rotation drive unit, and the rotation drive unit is provided with the inertia sensor and a control device. The rotational speed of the cutting edge can be automatically controlled according to the swing speed of the operator.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the control apparatus and method of an agricultural machine by this invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the other form of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the method of trying to improve the position accuracy using the conventional inertial sensor. It is a block diagram which shows the method of FIG.

  An object of this invention is to provide the control apparatus and method of an agricultural tool which controls the quantity of an agricultural chemical sprayed, or the rotational speed of a blade edge according to the swing speed of an agricultural chemical sprayer and an agricultural mower.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an agricultural equipment control device and method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and demonstrated to a part the same as that of a prior art example, or an equivalent part.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 41 denotes a pesticide tank in which liquid pesticide 41 a is stored. The pesticide 41 a in the pesticide tank 41 passes through a pump 42 and a hose 43 provided in the pesticide tank 41. The main body 44 is configured so that it can be sprayed to the outside through the operating body 45 on the distal end side.

  The actuating body 45 is composed of a pesticide sprayer 45a having the same structure as a well-known porous Jolo, and the main body 44 is provided with an inertial sensor 40 including a known gyro sensor and an accelerometer.

  The agrochemical tank 41 is provided with a control device 50, and the control device 50 and the inertial sensor 40 are connected by a signal line 51, and an output line 52 of the control device 50 is connected to the pump 42. The pump 42 can be controlled.

  In the agrochemical spraying device 60 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1, when an operator swings the main body 44 left and right by hand, the swing speed at the time of the swing operation is detected by the inertial sensor 40, and the inertia detection signal 40a. Is taken into the control device 50 via the signal line 51.

  The control device 50 controls the discharge amount of the pump 42 according to the swing speed, and increases the discharge amount of the agricultural chemical 41a when the swing speed is fast, and decreases the discharge amount when the swing speed is slow. The dispersion of the distribution can be flattened, and the working efficiency and agricultural application efficiency can be improved.

Next, in the configuration of FIG. 2, an agricultural mower 70 is shown. The same or equivalent parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, description thereof will be omitted, and only different parts will be described.
At the tip of the transmission mechanism 71A of the main body 44, an operating body 45 including a blade edge 45b is rotatably provided. The main body 44 is connected to a rotation driving unit 71 including an engine or a motor, and this rotation driving unit. The rotation of 71 is configured such that the operating body 45 can be rotated via the transmission mechanism 71A.
The rotation drive unit 71 is provided with a control device 50 and an inertial sensor 40. The rotation speed of the rotation drive unit 71 is controlled according to the swing speed of the main body 44. When the swing speed is high, the cutting edge 45b is moved. When the rotation speed is high, and the blade edge 45b is low when the rotation speed is low, the operability and workability can be improved.

  The control device and method for an agricultural tool according to the present invention can be applied not only to an agricultural tool but also to a part of a manufacturing apparatus for various foods, medicines, etc. as part of material supply control.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 40 Inertial sensor 41 Pesticide tank 42 Pump 43 Hose 41a Pesticide 44 Main body 45 Actuator 45a Pesticide sprayer 45b Cutting edge 50 Control device 51 Signal line 52 Output line 60 Pesticide sprayer 70 Agricultural mower 71 Rotary drive part

Claims (6)

  The swing speed of the left and right movement of the main body (44) having the operating body (45) at the tip is measured by the inertial sensor (40), and the operating state of the operating body (45) is controlled by the control device (50) according to the swing speed. A control device for agricultural equipment, characterized by being controlled by   The operating body (45) comprises an agrochemical sprayer (45a), the main body (44) is provided with the inertial sensor (40), and the main body (44) includes a signal line (51) and a hose (43). The agricultural equipment control device according to claim 1, wherein the agricultural equipment control device is connected to the agricultural chemical tank (41).   The actuating body (45) is composed of a cutting edge (45b) of an agricultural mower, the base of the main body (44) is connected to a rotation drive unit (71), and the rotation drive unit (71) 2. The control device for an agricultural implement according to claim 1, further comprising an inertial sensor (40) and a control device (50).   The swing speed of the left and right movement of the main body (44) having the operating body (45) at the tip is measured by the inertial sensor (40), and the operating state of the operating body (45) is controlled by the control device (50) according to the swing speed. The control method of the agricultural equipment characterized by controlling by.   The operating body (45) comprises an agrochemical sprayer (45a), the main body (44) is provided with the inertial sensor (40), and the main body (44) includes a signal line (51) and a hose (43). The method for controlling an agricultural implement according to claim 4, wherein the agricultural implement is connected to the agricultural chemical tank (41).   The actuating body (45) is composed of a cutting edge (45b) of an agricultural mower, the base of the main body (44) is connected to a rotation drive unit (71), and the rotation drive unit (71) The method for controlling an agricultural implement according to claim 4, wherein an inertial sensor (40) and a control device (50) are provided.

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