JPS6121041B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic cutting height adjustment device for mobile agricultural machinery such as combine harvesters and binders, and uses a non-contact distance sensor installed at the top of the reaping device to accurately detect irregularities in the ground in the forward direction of movement. The object of the present invention is to automatically adjust the cutting height of a reaping device based on the detected operation.

Conventionally, a contact type sensor is provided on the lower surface of a weeding implement constituting the pre-processing device, and the pre-processing device is raised and lowered based on the detection operation of the contact-type sensor to adjust the cutting height.

However, contact type sensors often cannot accurately detect the condition of the ground surface due to dirt, mud, dead grass, etc. adhering to the part that comes in contact with the ground surface. They are easy to damage or break and can only detect local ground conditions. For this reason, it is difficult to adjust the cutting height in consideration of the situation ahead in the direction of travel, and the movement of the pre-processing device changes rapidly, increasing control frequency. As a result of the reduced accuracy of adjustment, there was a problem in that the weeding tool and the cutting device collided with the ground, causing damage to them.

In particular, when detecting the working ground condition using a contact sensor, there is a problem that when the contact sensor goes over a convex part, the pre-processing device is lowered based on information from the sensor, so that the reaping device collides with the convex part.

The present invention has been proposed in view of these points, and uses a non-contact type sensor to detect unevenness of the ground in front of the direction of travel, and adjusts the elevation of the reaping device based on this detected information. When the rear side of the protrusion is detected, the pretreatment device is lowered after the cutting blade of the reaping device passes over the convex portion.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a combine harvester C as a mobile agricultural machine.
On the front right side is the control platform 2, on the left side is the preprocessing device 3,
A threshing device 4 is arranged at the rear. Then, each part is driven by an engine (not shown), and the machine body 1 moves forward with a pair of left and right crawlers 5, and the grain culms 13 to be planted in the rice field are weeded by the weeding tool 6 of the pretreatment device 3 and pulled up. The grain is raised by a harvesting device 7, harvested by a reaping device 8, conveyed backward by conveying devices 9, 10, 11, and 12 to a horizontal position, and threshed by a threshing device 4.

Figures 2 to 4 show the reaping device 8 of combine harvester C.
This figure shows the structure and function of the automatic cutting height adjustment device D.

That is, when reaping the planted grain culm 13 with the reaping device 8, the tracking sensor 15 attached to the pulling device 7 of the combine harvester C moves a predetermined width B in the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the combine harvester C. The unevenness of the ground of the mown field 30 in the detection area 16 is detected, and based on this detection signal, the mowing height control device M calculates the mowing height target surface S, and also controls the mowing height adjustment device D. The reaping device 8 is configured to follow the target cutting height surface S to perform reaping and harvesting.

The cutting height control device M consists of a microcomputer, inputs the detection signal of the working ground detection sensor 15 to the input interface 17, transmits it to the central processing unit 18, processes it according to the information stored in the storage device 19, It is configured to output from the output interface 20 to switch the oil passage switching valve 21 of the cutting height adjustment device D.

The cutting height adjusting device D is constructed as follows.

That is, the rear end of the pre-processing device 3 of the combine C is supported by the body 1 so as to be able to swing up and down about the pivot shaft 23, and the front end thereof is supported by the lifting hydraulic cylinder 2.
The height of the reaping device 8 from the ground is adjusted by adjusting the piston rod 22a of the lifting hydraulic cylinder 22 to move forward or backward. That is, detection information regarding the unevenness of the ground detected by the work ground detection sensor 15 is input to the cutting height control device M, and the cutting blade of the cutting device 8 should follow based on this information and information stored in advance. When the target mowing height surface S is set and the reaping device 8 is located above or below the target mowing height surface S, the oil passage switching valve 21 is activated via the mowing height control device M. By switching to the left or right, the piston rod 22a of the lifting hydraulic cylinder 22 is moved in or out as appropriate to cause the reaping device 8 to follow the target cutting height surface S.

When setting the target cutting height surface S, the difference in height between the lower end surface of the weeding tool 6 and the lower end surface of the reaping device 8, the distance between the tip of the weeding tool 6 and the reaping device 8, etc. In order to prevent the tip of the weeding tool 6 and the reaping device 8 from colliding with the convexity of the ground, it is made to rise from the front side of the actual convexity and descend in front of the convexity. Set.

That is, when the distance sensor 15 detects the front side of the convex part, the cutting height control device M is activated and the pre-processing device 3 is released upward, and when the distance sensor 15 detects the rear side of the convex part, the machine body 1 detects the front side of the convex part. After traveling a distance L from the point P to the reaping device 8, the pretreatment device 3 is lowered to a target mowing height surface S corresponding to the height of the working ground continuous to the rear side of the convex portion.

Here, the work ground detection sensor 15 is constituted by an ultrasonic projection/reception type distance measuring device among non-contact type distance sensors.

This distance measuring device is attached to the right-end pulling device 7 at a predetermined height above the ground so as to face obliquely forward and downward.

That is, the distance sensor 15 detects the combiner C at the depression angle α.
The fifth
As shown in the figure, by rotating a pinion 26 with a pulse motor 24 via a worm gear 25, the distance sensor 15 can swing left and right at a predetermined rotational angular velocity within the range of an opening angle β.

While the combine C moves forward, the distance sensor 15 is continuously swung from the right end to the left end, and each of the four detection points 27 in the detection area 16 is
Detects the distance to and inputs this detection signal to the input interface 17. Detection area 1 above
6 extends over a predetermined width B in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the combine harvester C, and by setting this predetermined width B to at least the width between grain rows or more, the height of the stump 14 can also be detected almost reliably.

In the case of this embodiment, the relative position of the distance sensor 15 with respect to the machine body 1 varies according to the height adjustment of the reaping device 8, so the above variation is taken into consideration when calculating the mowing height target surface S. Fix it.

However, if the distance sensor 15 is attached to the front side of the control platform 2 so that the distance sensor 15 is fixed to the aircraft body 1, the above modification is not necessary.

The above embodiment can be modified as follows.

(a) In the above embodiment, an ultrasonic projection/reception type distance measuring device is used as the distance sensor, but it may be configured to measure distance using a light wave reception type distance measurement. In short, the distance sensor may be a non-contact type distance sensor.

(b) A dedicated electronic control circuit combined with a logic circuit, etc. may be used as the cutting height control device.

(c) The automatic mowing height adjustment device of the present invention can be immediately applied to mobile agricultural machinery equipped with a reaping device such as a binder, in addition to combine harvesters.

(d) Instead of having the structure in which the distance sensor moves back and forth from side to side to detect each detection point as in the above embodiment, it is also possible to adopt a structure in which the detection sensor simultaneously detects each detection point within the detection area.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

(1) A non-contact distance sensor is installed diagonally forward and downward on the top of the reaping section of a mobile agricultural machine, and this non-contact distance sensor detects the working ground slightly in front of the front of the machine, so it is possible to detect the entire length of the mobile agricultural machine. It can be carried out without any changes, and a wide range of work areas can be used. In addition, non-contact distance sensors do not have dirt, mud, etc. attached to them, and since there is no contact with the ground, they can obtain highly accurate detection information and increase the durability of the distance sensor. This allows automatic cutting height adjustment with high accuracy over a long period of time.

(2) In order to carry out the present invention, a non-contact type distance sensor is attached in the shape of an angle of depression, and a mowing height control device of a simple structure is provided, so that the present invention can be carried out simply and at low cost. Moreover, since the cutting height control device can be used as a steering control device attached to steering control of a mobile agricultural machine, it can be implemented at low cost.

(3) After the distance sensor detects the rear side of the convexity in the work area, the entire pre-processing device is moved forward a certain distance and then moved down to the target surface for reaping, so that the reaping device does not collide with the convexity. This can be reliably prevented from causing damage to the reaping device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a combine harvester, FIGS. 2 and 3 are a partial schematic side view and a partial schematic plan view of the combine harvester in the reaping state, and FIG. 4 is an automatic harvester. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the height adjustment device and a schematic plan view of the drive mechanism of the tracking sensor. C...Mobile agricultural machine (combiner), D...Mowing height adjustment device, M...Following control device, S...Following target surface, 8
...Reaping device, 13...Grain culm, 15...Following sensor (distance sensor), 16...Detection area, 27...Detection point, 30...Already mown field.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A non-contact type distance sensor is installed above the reaping part of a mobile agricultural machine so as to face diagonally forward and downward, and the non-contact type distance sensor is capable of detecting the working ground slightly in front of the frontmost part of the machine body. The pre-processing device is configured to be able to be adjusted up and down via a cutting height control device based on the detection operation of the ground surface condition by a distance sensor, and the cutting height control device is controlled by a non-contact distance sensor that controls the front side of a protrusion on the ground surface. Based on the detection, the pretreatment device is raised, and based on the non-contact distance sensor detecting the rear side of the protrusion, the pretreatment device is lowered after the cutting blade of the reaping device passes over the protrusion. An automatic cutting height adjustment device for a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine, characterized in that it is configured to be controllable. 2. An automatic cutting height adjustment device for a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, wherein the mobile agricultural machine is a combine harvester. 3. An automatic cutting height adjustment device for a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, wherein the mobile agricultural machine is a binder. 4. An automatic cutting height adjustment device for a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the non-contact distance sensor is an ultrasonic projection/reception distance measuring device. . 5. An automatic cutting height adjustment device for a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the non-contact distance sensor is a light wave receiving distance measuring device. 6. In the automatic cutting height adjustment device of a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, the non-contact distance sensor is within the detection area. The device is structured to sequentially detect each detection point by going back and forth from side to side. 7. In the automatic cutting height adjustment device of a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, the non-contact distance sensor is within the detection area. The structure is such that each detection point can be detected at the same time. 8 In the automatic cutting height adjustment device of a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, The height control device consists of a microcomputer. 9 In the automatic cutting height adjustment device of a reaping device in a mobile agricultural machine according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, The height control device consists of a dedicated electronic control circuit.