Patent Application
20180077851
The present invention relates to agricultural implements and more specifically to systems for determining whether such implements are encountering obstacles.
Towed agricultural implements in the form of planter/seeders, tillage implements and others have increasingly longer lateral extremities. These implements are towed through a field behind a tractor guided by an operator who is mainly concentrating on navigating the tractor in a predetermined pattern. As such, the operator has limited visibility at the extremities of the laterally oriented implement. In an attempt to increase in efficiency with a given plot of land, farmers are attempting to push the edge of their fields closer to existing fence lines and woodlands thereby increasing the likelihood of a collision between the limits of the implement and a fence post, tree, rock or other obstacle.
Some approaches have been made to determine presence of objects in the forward path of an implement, such as in automated lawn mowing equipment. However, these are extraordinarily complicated and expensive owing to the multiplicity of the sensors and the complexity of the algorithms in analyzing and providing a meaningful determination from the signals.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to simplify the obstacle detection in a towed implement and thus make the process more economical.
The present invention seeks to greatly simplify the process of obstacle detection and appropriate signals in an agricultural implement.
In one form, the invention is an obstacle warning system for ground movement implement towed by a tractor and having laterally extremities beyond the width of the tractor. The system includes sensors solely positioned adjacent the lateral extremities of the towed implement and pointed in at least in the forward direction of travel for the towed implement for generating a signal indicating the local presence of an obstacle within a predetermined distance. An indicator on the tractor is configured to receive the signal and provide at least one of a visual and aural warning.
In another form, the invention is a towed implement having a tool bar extending laterally relative to the direction of movement and having extremities. Ground support wheels provide guided movement in the ground drive direction. Sensors are solely positioned on the tool bar adjacent its lateral extremities and are pointed in at least in the direction of travel for the towed implement for generating a signal indicating the local presence of an obstacle within a predetermined distance. An indicator is configured to receive the signal and provide at least one of a visual and aural warning.
One benefit of the present invention is an effective obstacle warning system to provide a tractor operator, an indication of an impending obstacle.
Another advantage is that the simplicity of the device allows the system to be scalable to a small agricultural operation.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
In accordance with the present invention, the obstacle detection warning system illustrated in
As a result, the operator in cab 16 may focus all attention in a forward direction to properly navigate the agricultural implement as efficiently and close to the field boundaries as possible. If an obstacle such as 24 is detected, an alarm is sounded prior to collision to provide adequate warning to the operator to stop or take evasive action. By utilizing sensors only adjacent the extremities 28 of implement 22, the system can be greatly simplified. Furthermore, the use of audible signals and visual signals provides a simplified and sensory appropriate alarm, so that the operator intuitively knows to stop the tractor 12 or take evasive action.
While the sensors 26 and alarm generator 34 have been shown as connected by appropriate lines, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the interconnection between these devices and the ECU 32 may be in a wireless or blue tooth interconnection. The ECU 32 is illustrated as a separate ECU, but the function of the obstacle alert may be incorporated in an existing chassis ECU or engine ECU, as appropriate.
While this invention has been described with respect to at least one embodiment, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
