Patent Application
20230038553
The present invention pertains to agricultural vehicles and, more specifically, to windrowers.
An agricultural vehicle known as a “windrower” is used to cut and place crop material into a windrow for subsequent harvesting or baling by another agricultural machine in a secondary operation. A windrower can be self-propelled and may include a chassis, wheels supporting the chassis, a prime mover, a cab, and a detachable header such as a sicklebar header or a draper header for cutting and placing the crop material on the field in the windrow. Some of the crops processed by windrowers include hay, forage, and other small-grain crops. Many windrowers include a conditioner, such as a pair of conditioning wheels, to condition the cut crop material before being placed in the windrow. While windrowers are generally effective at cutting crop material and forming windrows, efficient operation of the windrower depends on the correct settings for the conditions.
What is needed in the art is a windrower that can overcome at least some of the disadvantages of known windrowers.
Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein provide a windrower system with a controller that can adjust one or more conditioner operating parameters based at least partially on a crop type signal.
In some exemplary embodiments provided according to the present disclosure, a windrower system includes: a windrower includes: a chassis; a cutter carried by the chassis and configured to cut crop material; and an adjustable conditioner carried by the chassis behind the cutter and configured to condition crop material cut by the cutter; and a controller operably coupled to the conditioner and including a memory. The controller is configured to: receive a crop type signal corresponding to a crop type; recall at least one conditioner operating parameter from the memory based at least partially on the received crop type signal; and output a conditioner adjustment signal to the conditioner to adjust the conditioner to the recalled at least one conditioner operating parameter.
In some embodiments, a method of adjusting a conditioner of a windrower system is provided. The conditioner is configured to condition crop material cut by a cutter and operably coupled to a controller including a memory. The method is performed by the controller and includes: receiving a crop type signal corresponding to a crop type; recalling at least one conditioner operating parameter from the memory based at least partially on the received crop type signal; and outputting a conditioner adjustment signal to the conditioner to adjust the conditioner to the recalled at least one conditioner operating parameter.
One possible advantage that may be realized by exemplary embodiments disclosed herein is that one or more conditioner operating parameters that have been found to be effective for a specific crop type can be loaded into the memory and conveniently recalled later to automatically adjust the conditioner.
Another possible advantage that may be realized by exemplary embodiments disclosed herein is that the controller can be configured to also receive one or more other input signals and recall one or more conditioner operating parameters based on the other input signal(s).
Another possible advantage that may be realized by exemplary embodiments disclosed herein is that a user does not need to learn and remember effective conditioner operating parameters when cutting and conditioning crop types that the user is unfamiliar with and/or does not normally windrow.
Another possible advantage that may be realized by exemplary embodiments disclosed herein is that a display can present the conditioner operating parameter(s), which a user may then utilize to manually adjust the conditioner.
For the purpose of illustration, there are shown in the drawings certain embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements, dimensions, and instruments shown. Like numerals indicate like elements throughout the drawings. In the drawings:
Referring now to the drawings, and more particular to
Crop material is severed from the ground by the cutter 120 whereupon it is directed toward and engaged by a conditioner 130. The cutter 120 may comprise a plurality of rotary disc cutter modules 121 arranged so that adjacent pairs of modules 121 counter-rotate. Adjacent pairs of the modules 121 rotate so that the modules 121 converge crop material therebetween while other adjacent pairs of modules 121 divergingly rotate so that cut crop is directed away from the space between the modules 121. Consequently, the crop material being directed toward the conditioner 130 is concentrated into a number of crop streams generally centered between pairs of convergingly rotating disc cutter modules 121 and less dense in the area downstream of divergingly rotating disc cutter modules 121.
The conditioner 130 is adjustable and may comprise a pair of transversely elongate conditioning rolls 131, 132 as shown, or it may comprise a flail-type conditioner in which crop passes between a single roll with radially arranged flails and a closely proximate adjacent surface in order to crush the crop material. The conditioning rolls 131, 132 are closely spaced apart on parallel, transverse axes such that a gap is created therebetween through which crop material passes. The crop material is then ejected rearwardly from the conditioner rolls 131, 132 in a plurality of airborne streams along a trajectory whereupon it falls to the ground in a mat. A swathgate or swathboard 140 may be provided to allow alteration of the crop trajectory and thereby control the configuration of the resultant mat of crop material on the ground behind the windrower 100. Movement of the crop material through the conditioner 130 typically does little to laterally redistribute the individual streams of crop material, thus the mat of crop material deposited on the ground would be of non-uniform density without additional crop movement guides.
The swathboard 140 comprises a generally planar crop guide surface 141 oriented slightly above the trajectory of crop material ejected from the conditioner rolls 131, 132. The swathboard 140 may be movable so that the guide surface 141 may be angularly positioned to interact to varying degrees with the streams of crop material and thereby influence the trajectory of the crop material streams discharged from the conditioner 130. A fixed-position swathboard may also be used. In some embodiments, one or more deflectors 150 may also be included to further affect the trajectory of the discharged crop material.
In known windrowers, the operating parameters of the conditioner are generally set by the user. Users generally set the operating parameters based on their experience with a crop type and/or certain characteristics of the standing crop, such as stem diameter. If the user is not familiar with a certain crop type and/or the characteristics of the standing crop deviate from previous collection, a user may not know the most efficient operating parameters for the conditioner. The user may then be frustrated if the chosen operating parameters detrimentally affect conditioning and/or if the user seeks efficient operating parameters for the conditions and finds conflicting and/or unreliable information.
To address some of the previously described issues, and referring now to
The controller 160 may be configured to receive the crop type signal from a variety of sources. As illustrated in
When the conditioner setting menu 310 is in the basic setup mode, as illustrated in
The controller 160, after receiving the crop type signal, recalls one or more conditioner operating parameters from the memory 161 based at least partially on the received crop type signal corresponding to the crop type. For example, the controller 160 may be configured to recall the conditioner operating parameter(s) from a lookup table stored in the memory 161 that associates one or more conditioner operating parameters with a specific crop type. The lookup table may be pre-installed in the memory 161 by a manufacturer; alternatively, or in addition, the lookup table may be installed and/or edited in the memory 161 by a user. When light alfalfa is the crop type, for example, the associated conditioner operating parameters in the lookup table may be a defined gap between the conditioning rolls 131, 132 of ⅙th of an inch and/or a defined pressure exerted by the conditioning rolls 131, 132, e.g., 30% of a maximum pressure. After recalling the conditioner operating parameter(s), the controller 160 outputs a conditioner adjustment signal to the conditioner 130, e.g., the roll actuator 133, to adjust the conditioner 130, e.g., the conditioning rolls 131, 132, to the recalled conditioner operating parameter(s). For example, the roll actuator 133 may move one or both of the conditioning rolls 131, 132 so the defined gap is defined therebetween. Thus, the controller 160 may be configured to recall the conditioner operating parameter(s) from the memory 161 based solely on the received crop type signal, e.g., when in the basic setup mode. In some embodiments, the controller 160 also outputs a conditioner adjustment signal to the display 101 so the display 101 presents one or more conditioner operating parameter graphics 501, 502 presenting the recalled conditioner operating parameters. If desired, the user may consult the conditioner operating parameter graphics 501, 502 to manually adjust the conditioner 130. It should be appreciated that other conditioner operating parameters may be adjusted, including but not limited to a rotation speed of the conditioner 130.
In some embodiments, the controller 160 is further configured to receive at least one crop characteristic signal corresponding to at least one characteristic of crop material, with the recalled conditioner operating parameter(s) also being based on the crop characteristic signal(s). The controller 160 may also be configured to receive a conditioning level signal corresponding to a conditioning characteristic of conditioned crop material, with the recalled conditioner operating parameter(s) also being based on the conditioning level signal. Referring specifically now to
From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the windrower system 10 provided according to the present disclosure has a controller 160 with a memory 161 that can be used to adjust conditioner operating parameters based on the type of crop being conditioned, as well as other parameters. The conditioner operating parameters may be adjusted automatically by the system 10 or manually by a user consulting the conditioner operating parameter(s). The conditioner operating parameter(s) may be loaded into the memory 161 by a manufacturer, who may have a significant amount of data to determine the optimal conditioner operating parameters for specific crop types and other parameters. Thus, the windrower system 10 provided according to the present disclosure alleviates the need for a user to remember how the conditioner 130 should be set for specific crop types and other parameters.
Referring now to
It is to be understood that the steps of the method 800 are performed by the controller 160 upon loading and executing software code or instructions which are tangibly stored on a tangible computer readable medium, such as on a magnetic medium, e.g., a computer hard drive, an optical medium, e.g., an optical disc, solid-state memory, e.g., flash memory, or other storage media known in the art. Thus, any of the functionality performed by the controller 160 described herein, such as the method 800, is implemented in software code or instructions which are tangibly stored on a tangible computer readable medium. The controller 160 loads the software code or instructions via a direct interface with the computer readable medium or via a wired and/or wireless network. Upon loading and executing such software code or instructions by the controller 160, the controller 160 may perform any of the functionality of the controller 160 described herein, including any steps of the method 800 described herein.
The term “software code” or “code” used herein refers to any instructions or set of instructions that influence the operation of a computer or controller. They may exist in a computer-executable form, such as machine code, which is the set of instructions and data directly executed by a computer's central processing unit or by a controller, a human-understandable form, such as source code, which may be compiled in order to be executed by a computer's central processing unit or by a controller, or an intermediate form, such as object code, which is produced by a compiler. As used herein, the term “software code” or “code” also includes any human-understandable computer instructions or set of instructions, e.g., a script, that may be executed on the fly with the aid of an interpreter executed by a computer's central processing unit or by a controller.
These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing specification. Accordingly, it is to be recognized by those skilled in the art that changes or modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the broad inventive concepts of the invention. It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is intended to include all changes and modifications that are within the scope and spirit of the invention.
