Patent Application
20130059631
The invention described and claimed hereinbelow is also described in German Patent Application DE 10 2011 053 214.5 filed on Sep. 2, 2011. This German Patent Application, subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides the basis for a claim of priority of invention under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d).
The invention relates to an agricultural harvesting machine with a working assembly for processing and conveying crop and including a sensor array that detects hazardous substances in the crop to be processed.
Agricultural harvesting machines such as forage harvesters, combine harvesters or baling presses are known to travel across a field, in a self-propelled or drawn manner, during a harvesting operation to process and convey picked-up crop using one or more working assemblies. In order to achieve high utilization of machinery, harvesting is currently carried out during the day and at night. For that matter, on-going efforts are made to increase the productivity of the agricultural harvesting process as forward-travel speeds and working widths increase. Consequently, the operators of the machines must pay close attention in order to coordinate the complex working processes.
The field is not only a place to cultivate plants to be harvested, but also a living space for animals. During the harvesting operation, the machine operators of agricultural harvesting machines must therefore pay very close attention not only to coordinating the harvesting process but also to avoiding collisions with animals or even humans located in the field. Harvesting machines are known to pose a many times fatal hazard to living beings due to their working and conveyor assemblies, which have sharp edges and are driven powerfully. Furthermore, if a tragic collision with an animal occurs, the processing of the living being by the working and conveyance assemblies results in contamination of the crop that usually renders the crop unsuitable for use as feed. For example, dairy cattle perish of botulism if they ingest silage contaminated with animal cadavers. Even one deer that has been hit by a forage harvester can render an entire silo useless as feed since it is difficult to locate the contaminated portion of the crop in the silo.
In order to prevent collisions with animals present in a harvesting field, document DE 196 08 014 A1, for example, proposes that an infrared sensor be mounted on a bale wrapper in order to detect heat of living beings, which results in the bale winder being shut off. Document DE 102 44 822 A1 proposes that a sensor be mounted on a combine harvester in a danger zone, said sensor detecting living beings and halting the combine harvester as necessary.
Living beings cannot always be detected using the sensors of the above-described harvesting machines, however. One reason is that the detection region of sensors is always limited. Another reason is that animals in the plant crop are often difficult to detect because they hide or suddenly run into the path of the harvesting machine. Furthermore, changing operating conditions impair the reliability of the sensors. Practical experience has shown that, despite on-going efforts, it cannot be ruled out that living beings will be hit by harvesting machines. One result thereof is, inter alia, economic loss due to the loss of value of the crop.
In addition, cases of sabotage are often carried out before the harvest, in which third parties hide chemicals (household cleaning products, for example) at or in the plant crop. The chemicals can thereby enter the crop unnoticed. The chemicals pose a hazard, in particular, with respect to the subsequent use of the harvested material in biogas plants since they easily influence the sensitive bacteria in the substance circulation of the plant, thereby disrupting the production of biogas.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of known arts, such as those mentioned above.
To that end, the invention provides a harvesting machine such as those described above but that is configured to limit economic losses caused by unwanted events that occur during harvesting, such as collisions with living beings or sabotage carried out on the plant crop.
For example, the invention provides an agricultural harvesting machine with a working assembly for processing and conveying crop, wherein a sensor array is included to detect hazardous substances in the crop to be processed and/or in the processed crop.
According to the invention, it was first recognized that it has not been possible to fully rule out collisions with living beings during a harvesting operation using technical means having a justifiable level of complexity. In order to at least rule out further endangerment of living beings downstream in the food chain, more particularly animals that are fed crop, and/or endangerment of downstream technical processes, the harvesting machine according to the invention comprises a sensor array that detects the hazardous substances in the processed crop.
Basically any substance can be considered a hazardous substance that poses a hazard in a broader sense to the harvested product and in the subsequent use thereof. This is the case, for example, when the crop is rendered unsuitable for use as animal feed by the hazardous substance contained therein or when the hazardous substance disrupts the production of biogas. By detecting such hazardous substances, the sensor array provided according to the invention helps to prevent or at least diminish economic losses incurred in such a manner by making it possible for the machine operator to remove the crop that was recognized as being contaminated from the downstream production chain. Advantageously, the hazardous substances are therefore substances that can be detected using the sensor array.
As previously described, a hazardous substance in the above-noted sense can be a substance that renders the crop unsuitable for use as animal feed. This includes, for example, animal substances, that is, any substances originating from an animal organism (including human, therefore, in the natural-scientific sense). These animal originating substances may include, without limitation, flesh, blood and/or bones thereof. In addition, fungal infestation of the crop can render the crop unsuitable for subsequent use. For example, mycotoxins are known to be a metabolic product of mold that have toxic effects on vertebrates even in small doses and must, therefore, be considered hazardous substances.
Furthermore, chemical substances that have any type of value-diminishing effect on the use of the crop also can be considered hazardous substances in the sense of the invention particularly including a case where the chemical substance impairs the production of biogas.
In principle, various types of sensors can be used to detect hazardous substances. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the sensor array comprises an optical sensor that optically detects the processed crop in order to derive information therefrom regarding the presence of a hazardous substance. Optical detection offers the advantage of enabling the crop to be examined in a contactless manner. Placement of the sensor array (at least the optically detecting elements thereof) at the crop flow advantageously makes it possible to perform a continuous measurement, thereby permitting rapid detection of the presence of hazardous substances and/or changes related thereto. Furthermore, the sensor array advantageously comprises an evaluation unit that derives information from the sensor signal generated regarding the presence of hazardous substances.
Advantageously, hazardous substances are detected using a sensor array that spectroscopically analyzes the crop in the near infrared range (NIR). To this end, the crop is exposed to short-wavelength infrared radiation in a highly targeted manner, for example, by way of a related light source. Certain molecular bonds of the irradiated material are excited to oscillate in response to the exposure. The reflected radiation is analyzed using a suitable detection device and an evaluation unit connected thereto. More particularly, by way of comparison with known data, the evaluation unit detects certain hazardous substances, such as animal blood or known chemical substances that are contained in the crop.
Initially, the evaluation is limited to determining that the derived information contains the presence of a hazardous substance per se. This purely qualitative information alone can suffice to avert pending harm as quickly as possible.
Advantageously, the information also contains the type of hazardous substance that was detected. In this manner, the machine operator is notified, for example, that the crop contains a certain chemical substance or a certain type of animal blood. Based on the type of hazardous substance, the machine operator can determine what event took place (sabotage, collision with an animal, fungal infestation, etc.) and initiate suitable action.
Preferably, the derived information also contains the quantity of the hazardous substance in the crop. The information can be relative (in the sense of a concentration, such as the portion by weight or volume of the currently detected crop) or absolute. An absolute quantity is determined, for example, by integrating the relative quantity over a known crop throughput. Quantity information supports machine operators in their assessment of the danger posed by the contamination.
The sensor array used for hazard detection is preferably a sensor array capable of detecting properties (for example, moisture, protein content, raw fiber content, etc.) of the crop itself. A dual use of this type greatly reduces the design complexity.
Furthermore, an output unit is assigned to the sensor array. The output unit is operated to output information to a machine operator related to the presence of the hazardous substance that was detected. The output can take many forms including the form of pure information, for example, by way of a display in the driver's cab that is visible to the machine operator. In order to provide the information with the character of an important message, the information may be output acoustically and/or appear as a warning message that is emphasized visually in a special way (in a signal color and in an appropriate size).
Preferably, the output device outputs a signal to the machine operator if a critical quantity of a detected hazardous substance is exceeded. In this case, the machine operator is warned by way of a signal only when a critical quantity of the hazardous material is exceeded. As such, the (absolute or relative) quantity to be reached therefor preferably is set by the operator.
Alternatively, a machine-related action is triggered if a critical quantity of a detected hazardous substance is exceeded. Different actions that are preferably dependent on the type and/or quantity of hazardous substance that was detected are feasible in this case. For example, an immediate stoppage of assemblies (for example, in the case of a forage harvester or combine harvester: intake assembly, front attachment, ground drive) of the harvesting machine could be triggered in order to interrupt the conveyance of crop or the cutting height could be changed to stop drawing in hazardous substances located on the ground.
Also, a targeted addition of chemical substances and/or ensiling agent to the crop is automatically initiated in response to the detection of a hazardous substance in order to reduce or entirely compensate the negative effect of the hazardous substance. The initiation of such actions can be integrated into an on-board machine monitoring system of the harvesting machine and could therefore be triggered automatically.
One embodiment the harvesting machine also provides a device that can be operated to document information related to the presence of hazardous substances according to location. Such device accesses a satellite-supported (or other type of) position-finding system in order to assign the information accordingly. In a practical application, the device enables indication of the exact point of discovery of collision with an animal in this manner, for example, in order to notify a responsible land manager, forester or hunter about the loss in the animal population or about the discovery.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of embodiments that follows, with reference to the attached figures, wherein:
The following is a detailed description of example embodiments of the invention depicted in the accompanying drawings. The example embodiments are presented in such detail as to clearly communicate the invention and are designed to make such embodiments obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.
As indicated in
As shown in
In order to minimize the damage in the cases described, the forage harvester 1 according to the invention (as shown in
In order to detect the particular hazardous substance, the crop 10 flowing through the upper discharge chute 8 is optically detected in the rear region of the upper discharge chute 8, that is, at the curved outer wall along which the processed crop 10 glides. To this end, the sensor array 9 comprises a (not shown) illumination source for irradiating the crop 10 with short-wavelength infrared light and an optical system for directing and bundling the light. A detector (not shown) assigned to the sensor array 9 detects the radiation spectrum reflected by the crop 10. An analysis of the spectrum carried out by the sensor array 9 is used to deduce information regarding the possible presence of a hazardous substance in the crop 10. This takes place, for example, in an evaluation unit by comparing the radiation spectrum that is received with stored values.
As depicted in
As indicated by the dotted line, the sensor array 9 transmits a signal to the output device 13 connected thereto, thereby ensuring that the machine operator is informed about the presence of a hazardous substance 17. The output can take place visually, for example, via a display and, in addition, in an acoustically audible manner. This ensures that the machine operator is notified as quickly as possible about the danger even while he carefully tracks other processes. Advantageously, the operator also is informed about the type of hazardous substance and, possibly, about the relative quantity thereof in the crop 10.
Advantageously, the information is documented according to location using a device 14. To this end, the device 14 is equipped with a satellite-supported receiver and a memory device, thereby making it possible to locate and store the particular location where the hazardous substance 17 was found.
Alternatively or in addition to the chemical substance 17, other hazardous substances also can be detected using the sensor array 9. As shown in
In deviation from the forage harvester 1 that is shown, it should be noted that harvesting machines such as combine harvesters, baling presses or other harvesting machines that process and convey a stream of crop can be equipped with a sensor array for detecting hazardous substances in the crop while achieving the effects and advantages according to the invention.
The following list of reference signs of various elements mentioned above is included (as follows), for ease of explanation:
As will be evident to persons skilled in the art, the foregoing detailed description and figures are presented as examples of the invention, and that variations are contemplated that do not depart from the fair scope of the teachings and descriptions set forth in this disclosure. The foregoing is not intended to limit what has been invented, except to the extent that the following claims so limit that.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2011 053 214.5 | Sep 2011 | DE | national |
