JP3274358B2 - Paddy field machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a grounding float which is swingable about a horizontal axis with respect to a working device which is connected to a traveling machine so as to be able to move up and down, and biases a front portion of the grounding float downward. The present invention relates to a paddy field working machine including a sensing spring and a control device for raising and lowering the working device so as to maintain the ground float in a predetermined target posture.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a paddy working machine constructed as described above in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-62630. In this prior art, a target attitude of a ground float is changed by operating a sensitivity setting switch. Then, the sensitivity of the raising / lowering control of the seedling planting apparatus can be changed. When the target posture of the ground float is changed to the forward descending side, the seedling planting device rises, and the urging force acting on the ground float from the sensing spring decreases, so that the posture change of the ground float is likely to occur. As a result, the frequency of the elevating control increases and the control sensitivity increases. Conversely, when the target posture of the landing float is changed to the front upward side, the seedling planter descends and acts on the landing float of the sensing spring. As a result, the urging force is increased, and the posture change of the ground float is less likely to occur. As a result, the frequency of the elevation control is reduced, and the control sensitivity is reduced.

[0003]

In this type of paddy working machine, it is necessary to set the sensitivity setting switch in the conventional example to an appropriate value at the start of work based on the hardness of the field. However, determining the hardness of the field at the start of the operation and setting the sensitivity setting switch to an appropriate value is troublesome and has room for improvement. In particular, in a large field, the hardness often varies depending on the position of the field. In such a field, it is necessary to frequently operate the sensitivity setting switch. However, operating the sensitivity setting switch during the operation is troublesome as described above. There is room for

It is an object of the present invention to rationally configure a rice transplanter capable of accurately grasping the hardness of a field scene without making a worker feel annoying, and to perform an operation corresponding to the hardness of the field scene. It is an aspect of the present invention to reasonably configure a rice transplanter that can appropriately set the sensitivity of the lifting control of the apparatus.

[0005]

According to a first feature of the present invention, as described at the outset, a grounding float whose front portion is urged downward by a sensing spring has a predetermined target posture. In a paddy field working machine equipped with a control device that raises and lowers the working device so as to maintain the working device, when the working device is lowered from a height at which the ground float is separated from the field scene, the ground float is brought into contact with the field scene. It is provided with a hardness judging means for measuring the posture change and judging that the field scene is harder as the posture change per unit time is larger. The operation is as follows.

A second feature of the present invention (claim 2) is that the hardness judging means determines that the traveling speed is high based on the traveling speed of the traveling body when the ground float comes into contact with a field scene. Is provided with a correction means for correcting to the softer side, and its operation is as follows.

[0007] A third feature of the present invention (claim 3) is that, based on the judgment result of the hardness judging means, the harder the field scene, the more the front portion of the grounding float is displaced upward. The automatic setting means for changing the target posture of the float is provided, and the operation is as follows.

[Action]

According to the first feature, when the working device is lowered in the field and the posture change of the grounding float within a unit time when the grounding float comes into contact with the field scene is large, the hardness discriminating means is set to the field scene. Is determined to be hard, and if the change in posture of the grounding float within a unit time is small, the hardness determination means determines that the field scene is soft. In other words, when the seedling planting device is raised, the ground float is in a forward lowered position due to the urging force of the spring. When the float is lowered to the field scene in this state, the ground float comes into contact with the field scene and Although the posture changes in the direction in which the front part is lifted against the urging force of the above, if the field is soft in this posture change, the posture change of the ground float while the ground float sinks into the field scene by the spring force The change in attitude of the grounding float within a unit time is small, and conversely,
When the field is hard, the degree of submersion of the ground float with respect to the field scene is small, so the posture change of the ground float within a unit time is large compared to the case where the field is soft. Thus, the hardness determination means can determine the hardness of the field.

According to the second feature, when the work apparatus is lowered while the traveling machine body is traveling, the result of the discrimination by the hardness discriminating means is corrected by the correcting means to a value on the soft side. In other words, when the working device is lowered while the traveling machine is running, a force acts in the lifting direction from the field scene to the grounding float, so that the hardness determination is performed in comparison with the lowering of the working device in a stopped state. Although the determination result by the means tends to be deviated toward the hard side, the correction means corrects the value to the soft side based on the traveling speed, so that a correct result of the determination can be obtained.

According to the third feature, when it is determined that the field scene is hard based on the determination result of the hardness determination means, the automatic setting means sets the ground contact so that the front portion of the ground float is shifted to the front rising side. Change the target posture of the float. That is, at the time of work, the hardness determination means determines the hardness of the field scene simply by lowering the work apparatus to the field scene, and the automatic setting means automatically sets the target posture of the grounding float. There is no need to artificially set the target attitude of the ground float according to the hardness.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a drive-type front wheel 1 and a drive-type rear wheel 2 that are steered.
The engine 4 is mounted on the front part of the traveling body 3 provided with a hydraulic motor, and a hydrostatic continuously variable transmission 5 to which power from the engine 4 is transmitted and a transmission case 6 are arranged on the rear part of the traveling body 3. A driving seat 7 is arranged at the center of the traveling body 3 and a seedling planting apparatus A as a working device is connected to a rear end of the traveling body 3 via a link mechanism 9 driven up and down by a lift cylinder 8. To construct a riding type rice transplanter as a paddy field working machine.

A raising / lowering lever 10 is provided on the right side of the driver's seat 7 for raising and lowering the seedling planting device A and performing an on / off operation of the planting clutch C. The continuously variable transmission is operated in front of the driver's seat 7. A main transmission lever 46 is provided, and a sub transmission lever 11 for operating a gear transmission system in the transmission case 6 is provided on the left side of the driver's seat 7, and a post portion of a steering handle 47 in front of the driver's seat 7. On the right side, a forcible raising / lowering lever 48 for forcibly raising and lowering the seedling planting apparatus A is provided. The planting clutch C is built in the transmission case 6, and the transmission case 6
The cutting operation is allowed only when the transmission shaft 12 for transmitting power to the seedling planting device A is in a predetermined rotation phase, and the planting arm (described later) of the seedling planting device A contacts the field. It is configured to shut off power in the avoided posture.

The seedling placement apparatus A includes a seedling mounting table 13 on which a mat-shaped seedling W is placed, a transmission case 14 to which power from the transmission shaft 12 is transmitted, and a power to be transmitted from the transmission case 14 via a chain case 15. , A planting arm 17 provided in a pair on the rotary case 16, a leveling float 18 as a grounding float composed of a center float 18C and a pair of side floats 18S, 18S (see FIG. 4). Each of them is configured for eight-row planting, and is equipped with a fertilizer application device B. At the time of work, the planting arm 17 cuts out the seedlings one by one from the lower end of the mat-shaped seedling W placed on the seedling mounting table 13. At the same time as planting in the field scene, the fertilizer B supplies the fertilizer under the field scene near the planted seedlings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lifting lever 10 is configured to be operable along a path formed in the guide 49,
When the raising / lowering lever 10 is set forward of the "down" position in the path, the seedling planting device A is lowered, and when it is set rearward of the "up" position, the seedling planting device A is raised, and "neutral".
When set to the position, the seedling planting device A is maintained at that level,
When the raising / lowering lever 10 is set to the "on" position, the planting clutch C is operated to be engaged, and the predetermined float height is maintained in a state where the center float 18C provided in the seedling planting device A is in contact with the ground. When the raising and lowering control is enabled and the setting is set to the "disengaged" position, the planting clutch C is disengaged, and when the raising and lowering lever 10 is set to the "automatic" position, the operation of the forcible raising and lowering lever 48 causes The automatic raising and lowering control and the forced raising and lowering of the seedling planting apparatus A are allowed, and the planting clutch C can be automatically turned off when the seedling planting apparatus A rises.

As shown in FIG. 3, the forcible raising / lowering lever 48 is urged by a spring (not shown) so as to return to the neutral position N, and a raising position U for raising the seedling planting apparatus A to the upper limit. And a lowering position D for lowering the seedling planting device A until it comes into contact with the field scene.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 8, a pipe-shaped planting depth adjusting shaft 19 is disposed so as to be rotatable around an axis centered in a lateral direction with respect to the lower surface of the chain case 15. A center float 18C and a side float 18S are pivotally connected to a bracket 22 at a rear position of a lateral support shaft 21 at a rear end position of an arm 20 extending rearward from the planting depth adjusting shaft 19. The front portion 18 of the support shaft 21 is configured to be swingable in the vertical direction around the axis X of the support shaft 21. The planting depth adjusting shaft 19 is linked with a planting depth adjusting lever (not shown). By operating this lever, the position of the support shaft 21 is changed in the vertical direction, and the planting arm 17 is planted. The configuration is such that the planting depth of the seedlings can be adjusted by changing the amount of entry of the trail of the nail into the field scene S. The center float 18C is supported on the planting depth adjusting shaft 19 via a bending / elongating link member 24, and the side float 18S prevents the member on the seedling planting device side from touching in the lateral direction. Supported by state.

A sliding rail 27 arranged in a horizontal position on the upper surface of the chain case 15 is supported by the chain case 15 so as to be movable vertically in the vertical direction along the seedling mounting surface of the seedling mounting table 13. At the lower part of the figure, a seedling picking amount adjusting shaft 28 in a horizontal posture along a sliding rail 27 is supported by a support bracket 29 so as to be rotatable around a center in a horizontal posture. A plurality of engaging arms 30 which are engaged with the lower part of the slide rail 27 are integrally formed on the seedling collecting amount adjusting shaft 28, and a seedling collecting amount adjusting lever (shown in FIG. 3), the slide rail 27 is displaced in the vertical direction to move the tip of the planting claw of the planting arm 17;
By changing the overlapping amount with the mat-shaped W placed on the seedling placing table 13 supported by the sliding rail 27, the amount of cutting out the seedlings can be adjusted.

A potentiometer type float sensor 32 is provided for measuring the swinging posture of the center float 18C around the axis X with respect to the arm 20 supporting the center float 18C. 3
Structure 2 will be described. That is, center float 1
A sensing spring 33 is disposed so as to apply a biasing force downward to the front position of 8C, and swings around a shaft 35 with respect to a support member 34 fixed to the frame 25 of the seedling planting apparatus A. A spring receiving member 37 is provided for the oscillating member 36 movably supported, and the oscillating member 36 and the planting depth adjusting shaft 19 are linked via a link mechanism 38 so that the planting is performed. Even if the center float 18C is displaced in the vertical direction by adjusting the depth, the pressure sensed by the urging mechanism does not change.

The float sensor 32 is provided in an amplification case 39. The amplification case 39 has a built-in sector gear 39B and a pinion gear 39C that increase the amount of rotation of the operation shaft 39A and transmit the rotation to the input shaft 32A of the float sensor 32.
The operating shaft 39A of the amplification case 39 is connected to the planting depth adjusting shaft 1
The amplification case 39 is configured to be swingable around the operation shaft 39A by being supported on the right arm 20 connected to the amplification arm 9. Further, a support plate 40 is freely rotatably supported on the planting depth adjusting shaft 19, and the support plate 40 and the support bracket 29 are bolted to prepare the support plate 40 in a fixed position. By connecting the support plate 40 via the rod 41, the connection distance of the rod 41 to each of the support plate 40 and the amplification case 39 in a side view, the axis of the planting depth adjusting shaft 19, and the axis of the operation shaft 39A. The distance between the center of the planting depth adjusting shaft 19 and the connection point of the rod 41 with respect to the support plate 40 and the distance from the axis of the operating shaft 39A of the amplification case 39 are equalized. Rod 41 for case 39
A parallel quadruple-type first link mechanism L1 having the same distance to the connection point is provided.

Further, an arm member 42 fixed to the rear portion of the center float 18C to transmit a change in the attitude of the center float 18C and an arm body 43 provided on the operating shaft 39A of the amplification case 39 are connected via a rod member 44. The distance from the axis X of the arm member 42 to the connection point of the rod member 42 with respect to the arm member 42 in the side view, and the distance from the axis of the operating shaft 39A of the arm body 43 to the rod with respect to the arm body 43 in side view. The distance between the connecting point of the member 44 and the axis of the operating shaft 39A is equalized, and the distance between the connecting point of the rod member 44 to the arm member 42 and the rod member 44 to the arm body 43 is equalized.
And a parallel quadruple type second link mechanism L2 having the same distance to the connection point.

By configuring the operation system of the float sensor 32 in this manner, when the planting depth is adjusted, the first
The posture of the arm body 43 with respect to the posture of the center float 18C is also maintained by the second link mechanism L2 while the posture of the amplification case 39 is maintained by the link mechanism L1, so that there is no inconvenience even when the planting depth is adjusted. It is configured to be able to perform elevation control based on the measurement value of the float sensor 18C.

As shown in FIG. 9, a meter panel 51 at the front of the driver's seat 7 has a setting part E for setting a target attitude of the center float 18C at the time of the automatic raising and lowering control of the seedling planting apparatus A, and a set center float 18C. A set value display section F for displaying the target posture of the field and a hardness display section G for indicating the degree of hardness of the field scene are formed. The setting section E includes an automatic setting switch 52, a manual setting switch 53, and a setting value. Increase switch 5 to increase
4 and a decrease switch 55 for decreasing the set value.
The set value display section F is provided with a display device 56 composed of a 7-segment type light emitting diode for displaying numerical values, and the hardness display section G is provided with a display device 57 composed of a plurality of light emitting diodes.
It has.

Note that the target posture is one of seven steps 1 to 7.
When the manual setting switch 53 is turned on, a value of "4" is automatically set as an initial value, and the value can be increased by turning on the increase switch 54. The value can be reduced by the ON operation of the decrease switch 55. As the numerical value representing the target posture is set to be larger, the target posture of the center float 18C is shifted to the front upward side, and the sensing spring 33 is compressed and the center float 18C is compressed. Since the swing of the float 18C is suppressed, the control sensitivity is reduced.
Is displaced forward and downward, the sensing spring 33 is relaxed, and the swing of the center float 18C is allowed, so that the control sensitivity is increased. Also, the plurality of light emitting diodes provided in the hardness display portion G are configured to display the hardness in a bar graph by setting an operation mode such that the higher the hardness of the field scene S, the more the light emitting state reaches the light emitting state. I have.

A control system is configured as shown in FIG. 11, and the control system includes a control device 61 having a microprocessor.
A signal from a potentiometer-type lever sensor 62 disposed at the base end of the lifting lever 10, a lifting switch 63 for detecting that the forcible lifting lever 48 has been operated to the lifting position U, and a lowering position D Based on a signal from a lowering switch 64 for detecting operation, the automatic setting switch 52, the manual setting switch 53, the increase switch 54, the decrease switch 55, the float sensor 32, and the rotation speed of the rear wheel 2, A system for inputting a signal from each of the speed sensors 65 for measuring the traveling speed of the vehicle 3 is formed, and an electromagnetic valve 66 for the lift cylinder 8 from the control device 61, a display device 57 for the hardness display section G, and the setting An output system for each of the display devices 56 of the value display unit F is formed.

When the leveling float 18 of the seedling planting apparatus A is in contact with the field scene S, the set value based on the automatic setting or the manual setting is set to the center float 1.
8C is set as a target posture, and a control operation is performed so as to perform an automatic raising / lowering control for controlling the lift cylinder 8 so that the center float 18C is maintained at the target posture and raising / lowering the entire seedling planting apparatus A. ing.

The target attitude of the center float 18C is as follows:
As the hardness of the field scene is higher, the front portion of the float 18C is displaced in the lifting direction to increase the urging force acting on the float 18C from the sensing spring 33 (a state in which the control sensitivity is reduced). As the hardness of the surface is softer, the front portion of the float 18C is deflected in the lowering direction to reduce the urging force acting on the float 18C from the sensing spring 33 (a state in which the control sensitivity is increased) and seedling planting work is performed. In this rice transplanter, for example, during the seedling planting operation, the traveling machine body 3 approaches the ridge and the forced raising / lowering lever 48 is moved to the ascending position U to raise the seedling planting device A to the upper limit. When the seedling planting apparatus A is lowered by operating the forcible raising / lowering lever 48 to the lowering position D after the traveling machine body 3 is turned, the center float 18 when the center float 18C is brought into contact with the ground is moved.
The hardness of the field scene S is measured based on the posture change within the unit time of C, and the hardness is displayed on the hardness display section G. Further, the automatic setting switch 52 is turned on, whereby The target posture is automatically set based on the hardness measurement result, and this control operation will be described below.

That is, when lowering the ascending seedling planting apparatus A, the timer starts operating at the timing when the center float 18C touches the ground, and the float sensor 32 is set at regular intervals set for an extremely short time. The sampling for inputting the signal from the speed sensor 65 is performed at the same intervals until the time set by the timer elapses (steps # 101 to # 105).

Next, a process of calculating the hardness of the field scene S based on the sampling data from the float sensor 32 is performed (Step # 106). When the seedling planting apparatus A descends at a substantially fixed speed, if the field scene S is soft, the front part is lifted due to the tendency of the center float 18C to sink, and conversely, the field scene S is hard. In some cases, the front part is lifted with the tendency that the center float 18C does not sink much, so the processing is for obtaining the hardness of the field scene S based on the difference in this tendency.

The change in the signal from the float sensor 32 when the seedling planting apparatus A is lowered as described above is graphed based on the passage of time, as shown in FIG. A change in the signal from the float sensor 32 is measured from the timing T at which the signal voltage of the sensor 32 starts to increase until a time t set by the timer elapses. When the change rate of the voltage is high as shown in the graph and the field scene S is soft, the change rate of the voltage is low as shown in the lower graph.

Next, based on the sampling data from the speed sensor 65, it is determined whether or not the machine body 3 was running when the seedling planting apparatus A descended. The traveling speed of the machine body 3 is determined, and the higher the traveling speed, the more the value of the hardness of the field scene S determined in the above step is corrected to a lower side. Or if the body 3 is not traveling, a process of expressing the hardness by the number of light emitting diodes of the light emitting diode on the display device 57 of the hardness display unit G is performed using the value of the hardness of the field scene S obtained in the above step. (Steps # 107 to # 109).

Further, when the automatic setting switch 52 is turned ON, a target value is set based on the hardness value of the field scene S obtained in this way, and this target value is displayed on the set value display section F. When the automatic setting switch 52 is not turned on and the manual setting switch is turned on, the increase switch 5 is displayed.
4, the target value is set based on the ON operation of the decrease switch 55 and the target value is controlled to be displayed on the display device 56 of the set value display section F (# 110).
~ # 115 steps)

In this control operation, # 101 to # 1
The hardness discriminating means H is executed by a program for executing the 08 step processing.
The correction means J is configured by a program that performs the process of step # 108 of this program, and
The automatic setting means K is constituted by a program for performing one-step processing.

By performing the above-described processing, the machine body 3 approaches the ridge at the time of work, and the seedling planting apparatus A is raised to the upper limit by operating the forcible raising / lowering lever 48. Is lowered to the working height, the hardness of the field scene S can be measured and displayed on the hardness display section G based on the characteristic of the posture change due to the grounding of the center float 18C, and the state in which the machine body 3 travels Even when the lowering control of the seedling planting apparatus A is performed and the correct hardness is not measured by the action of the pressure from the field scene S, the correct hardness value can be displayed on the hardness display unit G by the correction processing. Further, by turning on the automatic setting switch 52, the center float 18 in the automatic lifting control is controlled.
The target posture of C is set to an optimum value, and the seedling planting apparatus A can be moved up and down with the most appropriate control sensitivity.

[Another Embodiment] In addition to the above-described embodiment, the present invention can set a control operation to determine the hardness of a field scene when the seedling planting apparatus is lowered by a raising / lowering lever, for example. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the hardness is displayed by a number instead of the bar graph type.

[0036]

As a result, a rice transplanter capable of accurately grasping the hardness of a field scene without making a worker feel troublesome is rationally constituted (claim 1). Further, a rice transplanter capable of accurately grasping the hardness of the field even when the traveling machine is running (claim 2) and appropriately setting the sensitivity of the lifting / lowering control of the working device in accordance with the hardness of the field scene is reasonable. (Claim 3).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a rice transplanter.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an operation system of a lifting lever.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a forced lifting lever.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an arrangement of a leveling float.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the front part of the center float.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the front part of the center float.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the arrangement of the float sensor.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an operation system of the float sensor.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a setting unit, a hardness display unit, and a set value display unit.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing a voltage change of a float sensor when the seedling plant is lowered.

FIG. 11 is a block circuit diagram of a control system.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a hardness determination routine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Traveling body 18 Ground float 33 Sensing spring 61 Control device A Working device H Hardness discriminating means J Correcting means K Automatic setting means S Field scene X Axis

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A working device coupled to the traveling machine so as to be able to move up and down, a grounding float is provided so as to be swingable about a horizontal axis, and a sensing spring for urging a front portion of the grounding float downward is provided. A paddy field working machine provided with a control device that raises and lowers a work device so as to maintain a float in a predetermined target posture, wherein when lowering the work device from a height at which the ground float is separated from a field scene, A paddy working machine comprising hardness determination means for measuring a posture change of a ground float due to contact with a field scene and determining that the field scene is harder as the posture change per unit time is larger. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hardness determination means includes correction means for correcting the traveling speed of the traveling body to a softer side as the traveling speed increases, based on a traveling speed of the traveling body when the ground float comes into contact with a field scene. The paddy field working machine according to claim 1, wherein 3. An automatic setting means for changing a target attitude of the grounding float based on a determination result of the hardness determining means such that the harder the field scene is, the more the front part of the grounding float is displaced forward. The paddy field working machine according to claim 1, wherein