JPH0147965B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a pair of left and right sensors that swing backward when in contact with the planted stem culm on the side of the introduction path of the planted stem culm, and only one of the sensors moves backward. The present invention relates to a reaping harvester in which both of the sensors and a machine direction mechanism are linked so that when the machine swings, the machine automatically steers the machine in a direction that moves the sensor away from the stem culm.

The above automatic steering control is effective when the aircraft moves in the direction of rows of stems and culms, so-called row cutting, and the stems and culms are not arranged in rows in the direction of movement of the aircraft. In other words, it is meaningless when mowing crosswise across rows. For this reason, it is common practice to stop the automatic steering control during horizontal mowing by, for example, turning off the start switch of the control circuit.

However, when harvesting is done by circular mowing, row mowing and horizontal mowing are repeated alternately, so it is troublesome to turn on and off the control circuit each time the mowing mode is changed, and automation of this is desired. Ta. Focusing on the fact that the spacing between the left and right adjacent stems and culms when viewed from the direction of movement of the machine is greatly different during row mowing and horizontal mowing, the following means for performing the above-mentioned automatic switching was devised.

In other words, in recent years, when rice transplanters have become widespread, the cropping pattern has become smaller between adjacent rows (e.g., 28 cm to 33 cm) and between plants (e.g., 13 cm to 18 cm).
The distance between adjacent plants on the left and right when viewed from the direction of movement of the aircraft is large during row mowing (row spacing) and small when horizontal mowing is occurring (space between plants). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, during row cutting, the left and right sensors 26a, 26b do not touch the left and right plants at the same time, and as shown in FIG. , 30 so that both sensors 26a, 26b touch the stock 2 at the same time.
A means has been proposed for determining that the vehicle is in a side-mowing state when the vehicle touches 9 or 30, thereby checking and inhibiting the automatic steering control.

However, in this case, when mowing horizontally, both the left and right sensors 26a, 26b must be operated simultaneously on the left and right plants 29, 30.
In order to operate the switches 28a, 28b by contacting the culm, the protrusion length of each sensor 8a, 8b into the stem culm introduction path is long. A new problem has arisen: the width of the neutral dead zone used for straight-line control becomes narrower, and row mowing control tends to become too sensitive, reducing control stability.

This invention was made with attention to these points, and by making improvements to the sensor structure and automatic steering control circuit, it is possible to improve lateral movement without compromising stability during row mowing steering control. In order to ensure reliable cutting control, in the reaping and harvesting machine having the above configuration, each of the above-mentioned two sensors has a
An angle detection mechanism that detects whether or not the machine has swung backward by a set angle or more and also detects whether or not it has swung backward by a second set angle that is larger than the first set angle is attached, and the angle detection mechanism and the machine are connected to each other. gymnastics mechanism,
The aircraft direction mechanism is operated only when the backward swing angle of one of the sensors is greater than or equal to the second set angle, and both the backward swing angles of both sensors are set at the first set angle. The present invention is characterized in that an artificial setting mechanism is provided that changes the second set angle by linking the aircraft direction mechanism so that the steering operation by the aircraft direction mechanism is disabled only in the above state.

In other words, in steering control during row mowing, one sensor senses the approach of the plant only when it swings back far beyond the second set angle, whereas both sensors sense the first position, which is slightly off the set position. Since the horizontal mowing status is determined by sensing when the set angle has been reached, even if you set both sensors to a sufficient length to simultaneously sense the left and right adjacent plants during horizontal mowing, when row mowing, The left and right sensors perform essentially the same function as those with shorter protruding lengths, allowing accurate discrimination between row mowing and horizontal mowing, while maintaining stability without unnecessary steering operations. Now you can perform row cutting.

Furthermore, by changing the second setting angle, the actual protruding length of the left and right sensors can be changed, so even if the spacing between the rows changes due to differences in the field, etc., the sensor can be adjusted appropriately. The width of the dead zone can be set, and as a result, it is now possible to perform row mowing work with the automatic steering control that always reliably has just the right amount.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, three weeding tools 2 are arranged side by side on the left and right in front of a cutting section 1 provided at the front of the combine body, and a frame 2a that supports the central weeding tool 2 is attached to a frame 2a. , two sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are arranged with their respective sensor bars 3 and 4 protruding to the left and right opposite sides, and a pair of left and right crawler traveling devices 6L and 6R are installed.
Steering clutches 7L and 7R that independently drive and stop the
A single-acting hydraulic cylinder 8L, 8R for operation is attached to each of the steering clutches 7L, 7R, and an electromagnetic valve 9 is provided for selectively switching the cylinders 8L, 8R into an operating state and a non-operating state.

The interlocking configuration of the two sensors S ₁ and S ₂ and the electromagnetic valve 9 will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the sensor bars 3 and 4 swing around the axis _P1 due to contact with the stem culm as the aircraft moves forward, a potentiometer 11 generates a voltage proportional to the swing angle. 12 is attached to each of the sensor bars 3 and 4, and when the first sensor bar 4 on the right side of the aircraft swings and the output of the first comparator 17 becomes "L", the solenoid coil 9a of the electromagnetic valve 9 energize the steering clutch 7L.
is turned off to automatically steer the aircraft to the left. Meanwhile, when the second sensor bar 3 on the left side of the aircraft swings and the output of the fourth comparator 18 becomes "L", the solenoid coil 9b The steering clutch 7R is turned on and the steering clutch 7R is turned off to automatically steer the aircraft to the right.Furthermore, the reference voltage of the first comparator 17 can be changed by the variable resistor 13, and the fourth comparator The reference voltage of 18 is configured to be changeable by the variable resistor 14, and the second set angle θ ₂ of the first sensor bar 4 at which the output of the first comparator 17 becomes “L” and the fourth comparator 2nd sensor bar 3 where the output of the regulator becomes “L”
The second setting angle θ ₂ can be set independently and changeably. Further, when both sensor bars 3 and 4 swing beyond the first set angle θ ₁ which is smaller than the second set angle θ 2 , the outputs of the second comparator ₁₅ and the third comparator 16 are both “H”. ”, and the outputs of the second AND circuit 21 and the falling delay circuit 22 become “H”.
The output of the first AND circuit 19 becomes "L", and the output of the third
Since the output of the AND circuit 20 becomes "L" and the driving transistors 23 and 24 are turned off,
For example, if both the first sensor bar 4 and the second sensor bar 3, or either one of them swings greatly, the second
When the set angle θ ₂ is exceeded, the outputs of the first comparator 17 and the second comparator 18 both become "L",
Alternatively, even if one of the solenoid coils becomes "L", neither of the solenoid coils 9a, 9b is energized, so that the automatic steering control is kept in check.

Note that the inverting input terminals of the second comparator 15 and the third comparator 16 are grounded, and the first
Even if the swing angle of the sensor bar 4 and the second sensor bar 3 is very small, the swing can be detected, and the variable resistor 13 is provided with a resistor 10,
By connecting the resistor 10 to the variable resistor 14, the respective second setting angles θ ₂ are set from the first setting angle θ ₁ at which the outputs of the second comparator 15 and the third comparator 16 become “H”. It is also made to be large.

In addition, the falling delay circuit 22 immediately controls the sensor bars 3 and 4 even if they temporarily return to the non-swinging state when one or both of them pass between the stem culms. In order to prevent the operation from becoming unstable due to release of the restraining state, the structure is such that the signal obtained when both the sensor bars 3 and 4 are swinging is held for a certain period of time.

Furthermore, the installation width L ₁ of both sensor bars 3 and 4 shown in Fig. 1 is set to be narrower than the width of the stem culm row during row cutting, and sufficiently wider than the width of the stem culm row during horizontal cutting. As a result, during row cutting,
If the stem culm does not touch both sensor bars 3 and 4, the aircraft will go straight, the aircraft will be biased against the stem culm row, the first sensor bar 4 or the second sensor bar 3 will come into contact with the stem culm, and the second setting will be made. If the aircraft swings more than the angle θ ₂ , automatic steering is performed to correct the deviation of the aircraft, and the second set angle θ ₂ is changed to substantially increase the installation width of both sensor bars 3 and 4. By changing the distance from L ₁ to L ₂ , etc., stable running can be achieved according to the width of the stem culm row. During horizontal mowing, both sensor bars 3 and 4 come into contact with the stem culm and swing over the first set angle θ ₁ , which automatically determines whether horizontal mowing or row mowing is desired. The automatic steering control is automatically checked during horizontal mowing.

Next, another example will be shown.

The steering clutches 7L, 7R can be changed to steering brakes, and these can be replaced by the aircraft direction mechanisms 7L, 7.
collectively referred to as R, and also the potentiometer 1
1 and 12 can also be constructed by converting the change in the swing angle into a change in capacitance or directly converting it into a digital code and outputting it, and these are collectively referred to as angle detection mechanisms 11 and 12. On the other hand, the variable resistors 13 and 14 can be generated by artificially varying the reference signal for the detection output of the angle detection mechanisms 11 and 12, and the signal can be converted into, for example, a capacitance value or directly into a digital code. It is also possible to configure it with things that are converted and output, etc., and these can be configured using the artificial setting mechanism 1.
3 and 14, and these two setting mechanisms 13 and 1
4 may be constructed so that the left and right second setting angles θ ₂ can be set simultaneously by using, for example, a single-shaft dual variable resistor or a single-shaft dual variable capacitor.

Further, the circuit configuration includes angle detection mechanisms 11, 1
2, the output signal format of the manual setting mechanisms 13 and 14, and the format of the aircraft orientation mechanisms 7L and 7R.

The present invention can be applied to various types of combine harvesters, binders, reaping machines, etc., and these are collectively referred to as reaping and harvesting machines.

Incidentally, although reference numerals are written in the claims section for convenient comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the structure shown in the accompanying drawings.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the reaping harvester according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the front part of the combine harvester and the running relationship, and FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit of the automatic steering control device. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the conventional structure of the sensor, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operating state of the sensor. S ₁ , S ₂ ... Sensor, 7L, 7R ... Aircraft direction mechanism, 11, 12 ... Angle detection mechanism, 13, 14
...Artificial setting mechanism, θ ₁ ...First setting angle, θ ₂ ...
Second setting angle.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pair of left and right sensors S 1 and S ₂ are provided beside the introduction path of the planted stem culm, and the left and right sensors S ₁ and S ₂ swing backward when in contact with the stem culm _. Both sensors S ₁ and S ₂ and the aircraft direction mechanisms 7L and 7R are arranged so that when only one of them swings backward, the aircraft is automatically steered in a direction that moves that sensor S ₁ or S ₂ away from the stem culm. A reaping/harvesting machine in which both the above-mentioned sensors
For each of S ₁ and S ₂ , it is detected whether or not it has swung by a first set angle θ ₁ or more, and whether it has swung backward by a second set angle θ ₂ or more that is larger than the first set angle θ ₁ or not. The angle detection mechanisms 11, 12 and the aircraft direction mechanisms 7L, 7R are connected to each other when the backward swing angle of one of the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ is the second The aircraft direction mechanisms 7L and 7R are operated only when the set angle θ ₂ or more, and the backward swing angles of both the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are both set at the first set angle θ ₁ or more. The present invention is characterized by being provided with artificial setting mechanisms 13 and 14 that change the second setting angle θ ₂ by linking the aircraft direction mechanisms 7L and 7R so that the steering operation is disabled only in this state. A reaping harvester. 2. The reaping harvester according to claim 1, wherein the angle detection mechanisms 11 and 12 are analog sensors that output electrical signals proportional to the backward swing angle. 3. According to claim 1 or 2, the manual setting mechanisms 13 and 14 are mechanisms that simultaneously set the second setting angle θ ₂ of both the angle detection mechanisms 11 and 12. The reaping harvester described. 4. The reaping/harvesting machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein separate manual setting mechanisms 13 and 14 are attached to both angle detection mechanisms 11 and 12, respectively.