JPH036762B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a tracing sensor A that detects grain culm rows introduced into the reaping section as the vehicle travels, and detects grain culm rows based on the grain culm row detection results of this sensor. The present invention relates to a reaping and harvesting machine with a scanning sensor, which is equipped with a control device 5 for controlling the running direction.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional reaping and harvesting machines with tracing sensors of this kind detect grain culm rows in the field and scan the grain culm rows to avoid leaving uncut leaves during reaping and harvesting work. In order to do this, we installed a tracing sensor that can detect the deviation of the machine body relative to the row of grain culms that are introduced into the reaping section as the machine travels. This sensor is equipped with a contact bar whose rotation angle changes depending on the contact position with respect to the grain culm row, and a switch that turns on and off according to this angle change. Based on this, the system was designed to detect the deviation of the aircraft relative to the grain culm row.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, grain culms planted in a field are usually planted in such a way that they are arranged densely in the row direction and coarsely in the horizontal direction at predetermined intervals, taking into account the ease of planting work and subsequent management. There is.
Therefore, in the reaping work, there are row mowing, which is performed sequentially along the above-mentioned row direction, horizontal mowing, which is reaped from the side to this row direction, and in-between cutting, which is performed to pre-divide the reaping work range of the field. There are three basic types of work, each with a different pattern of grain culm rows introduced into the reaping section. Therefore, the optimal position of the grain culm row to follow the grain culm row introduced into the reaping section is different for each of the three types of work modes, since the cutting width of the reaping section is constant. .

However, in the conventional reaping/harvesting machine, some operations such as splitting are performed manually by the operator's visual inspection, or dedicated sensors are installed for each type of work. However, the drawbacks were that the operation became complicated, which increased the burden on the operator, and the sensor structure became complicated.

In addition, in conventional reaping and harvesting machines, the cutting width of the reaping section is smaller than the width of the traveling machine body, so during splitting work, it is necessary to avoid crushing the grain culm with a crawler traveling device, etc., compared to normal row cutting work. It is common to harvest one row of grain culms.

It is also conceivable to configure the reaping harvester so that the cutting width of the reaping section approximately matches the width of the machine body so that grain culm rows with the same number of rows are harvested during row cutting and splitting. If such a configuration is attempted, the transportation route for the harvested grain culm from the reaping section to the threshing device etc. will become longer, which will result in an increase in the size of the machine, and the equipment in the reaping section will impede the forward view of the machine. Therefore, it is difficult to adopt it from the viewpoint of structure and workability.

Focusing on row cutting work and mid-splitting work, as mentioned above, a sensor system consisting of a contact bar and an ON/OFF type switch is supported by a member that is swingable around a vertical axis. etc., and when performing in-between work, use the row cutting work as a standard,
The member is swung so that the row of grain culms detected by this sensor system is deviated to the outside of the aircraft body, and only one extra row of grain culms is introduced into the path on the side where this sensor system is installed. It is also possible to switch between these two types of work formats by doing so.

However, such a structure in which the detection position of the grain culm row is changed by swinging a member not only requires an operation system to swing the member, but also requires a control system to change the introduction position of the grain culm row. In the case of adjustment, the position of the stopper that determines the position of the member must be adjusted, or the relationship between the contact bar and the switch must be adjusted, which is time-consuming.

Also, considering the operation when using a sensor consisting of a contact bar and an ON/OFF type switch, in this type of sensor, the contact bar should be directed forward so that it extends into the introduction path of the grain culm. The contact bar is energized by a spring, etc., and swings backward only when it comes into contact with the grain culm, and when this swing amount reaches a predetermined value, the switch is turned on, or
Since it is configured to be turned OFF, when the aircraft is running, the contact bar contacts the grain culm and swings backward, and the contact bar is detached from the grain culm, thereby exerting the above-mentioned biasing force. This causes the contact bar to swing forward.

In other words, since the grain culm row is made up of grain culms planted at predetermined intervals, when the aircraft is running, the contact bar will repeatedly swing back and forth.
As a result, even if the machine is in an appropriate position relative to the grain culm row, the switch may cycle between ON and OFF states.

This phenomenon tends to occur when the machine is running at low speed or when the distance between plants in the direction along the grain culm row is large, and when the switch is repeatedly turned on and off in this way, the control system becomes There is room for improvement as it may not be possible to run normally if the vehicle is assembled using simple logic.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rationally configured harvester that can easily switch between two types of work, ie, row mowing work and mid-splitting work, and can smoothly follow and run during each type of work. It is in the point of doing.

[Means to solve the problem]

A feature of the present invention is that, in the reaping and harvesting machine equipped with a scanning sensor that travels following the row of grain culms introduced into the reaping section as described above, the scanning sensor is mounted on a single unit that swings backward upon contact with the grain culm. It consists of a rod and a single potentiometer that converts the amount of swing of this rod into a voltage value, and this tracing sensor is detected in the introduction path where the row of grain culms on the mown field side is introduced. Furthermore, the detection area is formed by three zones for controlling each of left turn, straight ahead, and right turn, and the voltage signals from the potentiometers are averaged. A steering system comprising an integrating means and determining the direction of operation by determining in which of three voltage ranges set corresponding to the three zones the voltage signal from the integrating means exists. comprising a discrimination means, for introducing one row of grain culms into the introduction route during row cutting work and introducing two rows of grain culms into the introduction route during splitting work,
It is equipped with a voltage range changing means for displacing the zone of straight-line control during cutting work to the outside of the machine body based on the zone of straight-line control during row-cutting work, and its functions and effects are as follows. It is as follows.

[Effect]

If the above characteristics are configured as shown in Fig. 2, for example, during row cutting work, zones, etc. are formed as shown in Fig. 3 A, and voltage ranges are set as shown in Fig. 3 B, so that the machine During driving, the pulse-like signal from the potentiometer P is averaged by the integrating means 7, and if this averaged voltage value V exists in the zone, the vehicle is driven straight; If it exists, the aircraft will be steered in the direction of a left turn or a right turn.

In this way, steering directions such as going straight, turning left, and turning right are determined by the steering direction determining means B, and each zone can be easily adjusted by the reference voltage. becomes.

In addition, during the middle dividing work, by forming zones as shown in Figure 5A and setting the voltage range as shown in Figure 5B, the averaged output from the potentiometer P can be adjusted as described above. Steering is performed based on the voltage value v.

In other words, in this configuration, although the potentiometer P outputs a pulse-like (sometimes sawtooth-like) voltage signal, this signal is averaged, so an ON/OFF type switch is required for the sensor. For example, even when the rod swings significantly in the direction of recovery (towards the front of the aircraft), such as when the aircraft is moving at low speed and immediately after it has detached from the grain culm, the averaged signal will This enables normal steering control, and when changing the work format (choosing either row cutting work or mid-splitting work), the position of the sensor system can be changed mechanically. Rather than changing to

In addition, as shown in Figure 5A, during the middle splitting operation, the zone is deviated to the outside of the machine body compared to the row cutting operation, so two rows of grain culms can be introduced into this introduction route. When two grain culm rows are introduced in this way, each of the outermost grain culm rows among the three grain culm rows is introduced at a position relatively close to the weeding tool compared to row mowing work. will be done.

The system for changing the voltage in this way is referred to as voltage range changing means B in the present invention, and in the embodiment, it includes a switch SW, software set in the microcomputer 5, and a D/A converter 9.
It consists of

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, even though it is equipped with only a single sensor, it is possible to easily switch between the two types of work modes, row cutting work and mid-splitting work, and the adjustment is not labor-intensive, and each work type can be changed easily. The harvester was rationally constructed so that it could move smoothly during work.

In particular, in the present invention, grain culm rows are introduced in the widthwise center of each introduction path during row mowing operations, which are used exclusively for normal harvesting operations, so that, for example, the machine body may shake significantly. However, the introduced grain culm rows are less likely to come into contact with the weed cutting tool or the frame that supports the weed cutting, and the work can be carried out extremely smoothly.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in Fig. 1, a weeding tool 2 is provided at the front of a cutting section 1 provided at the front of the machine, and a frame on the most mown field side of a support frame 2a that supports the weeding tool 2. A tracing sensor A is installed in front of the machine 2a to detect the shift of the machine body in the left-right direction with respect to the grain culm row, and based on the result of detecting the grain culm row position by this sensor A, the electromagnetic control of the left and right traveling coolers 3 and 3' is A control device 5 for controlling ON/OFF of the clutches 4, 4' is provided to constitute a combine harvester that can automatically travel in a predetermined direction along grain culm rows.

The scanning sensor A includes a rod 6 (an example of a rod) that is biased forward and protrudes laterally.
A potentiometer P is provided at the base of the rod 6 so that the rod 6 rotates backward when it comes into contact with the grain culm row, and generates a voltage corresponding to the rotation angle, that is, the position of the grain culm row. There is.

As shown in FIG. 2, once the scanning sensor A detects the deviation of the machine body, it emits a detection signal for a predetermined period of time that is set longer than the time it takes for the machine body to move between the grain culms. Continuing, in order to prevent malfunctions in areas where grain culms are not present, the voltage V generated by the potentiometer P is averaged and converted into a DC voltage v by an integrating circuit serving as an integrating means.

Next, comparators 8, 8 are provided to determine the later-described grain culm row detection zone, , based on this voltage v, and compared with the respective reference voltages Vref1, Vref2, a logic signal corresponding to the zone, , is detected. The outputs D ₁ and D ₂ are specially configured. here,
Zone when both signals D ₁ and D ₂ are Low (hereinafter referred to as unit L), signal D ₁ is High (hereinafter simply referred to as H)
If the signal D ₂ is L in the zone, then the signal D ₁ ,
If both D ₂ are H, they correspond to the zones respectively. When the detection zone is detected, the vehicle is controlled to turn left, go straight in the zone, and turn right in the zone.

Next, the control device 5 includes an I/O port,
It is configured to function as a so-called microcomputer by providing a CPU, memory, timer, counter, etc. (not shown), and each output signal of the scanning sensor A is used as the grain culm row position detection data.
Based on the combination of D ₁ and D ₂ , the electromagnetic clutches 4 and 4' are driven, and the machine is controlled to automatically follow and travel along a predetermined grain culm row. Here, as shown in Fig. 3A to Fig. 5A, the grain culm row position detection zone of the copying sensor A is set corresponding to each work mode of row cutting, horizontal cutting, and mid-splitting (three-row cutting). In order to achieve this, the reference voltages vef1 and vef2 of the comparators 8 and 8 are configured to be changeable by the control device 5 via the D/A converter 9.

The pair of comparators 8, 8 are an example of steering discrimination means for determining the steering direction, and are combined with a switch SW for switching the work motor, software set in the microcomputer 5, and a D/A converter 9. This is referred to as voltage range changing means B for the system in which the switch SW
By the operation of the microcomputer 5, the D/
It operates to change the value of the signal output to the A converter 9 and change the reference voltage output to the comparators 8, 8.

FIG. 3B to FIG. 5B are waveform diagrams showing patterns of the generated voltage v of the potentiometer P over time t in each of the working modes shown in FIGS. 3A to 5B, In particular, the change in the generated voltage v during horizontal mowing shown in FIG. 5B is more intermittent than in other cases. For this reason, if the time constant τ for voltage averaging of the integrating circuit 7 is set to be the same as that for row cutting and middle division, many ripples will occur in the detected voltage v, causing malfunction. The switching is configured so that the time constant τ of the circuit 7 is set longer. This time constant τ switching is configured to be automatically switched by the control device 5 in conjunction with the state of the mode selection switch SW that switches between the row mowing, horizontal mowing, and mid-splitting (three-row mowing) modes. There is.

In addition, 10 in FIG. 2 is a manual switch for manually controlling the traveling direction of the aircraft, and FIG. 6 is a control device 5.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation, and FIG. 7 is a table for determining the running direction based on zone detection.

By the way, during the above-mentioned mid-splitting (3-row cutting) reaping work, in order to reap more grain culms than usual, the work must be performed at a slower speed than the above-mentioned row cutting and horizontal cutting. A vehicle speed sensor is provided to detect the mode selection switch.
If Sw selects mid-split (3-row cutting),
It may be configured to issue an alarm if the reaping operation is performed at a predetermined speed or higher.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the reaping/harvesting machine with a scanning sensor according to the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a combine harvester, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a control device, and Fig. 3 A shows grain culm rows during row cutting. Schematic diagram of the position detection zone, 3rd
Figure B is a diagram of the detected voltage waveform, Figure 4A is a schematic diagram of the grain culm row position detection zone during horizontal cutting, Figure 4B is a diagram of the detected voltage waveform, and Figure 5A is the grain culm during splitting. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram of the row position detection zone, FIG. 1... Reaping section, 3, 3'... Traveling crawler, 4,
4'... Electromagnetic clutch, 5... Control device, 6...
Rod, 7... Integrating circuit, 8... Steering direction determining means, A... Copying sensor, B... Voltage range changing means, P... Potentiometer, ,,... Detection zone.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A tracing sensor A is provided to detect grain culm rows introduced into the reaping section 1 as the grain travels, and this sensor A
The reaping/harvesting machine with a scanning sensor is equipped with a control device 5 that controls the traveling direction based on the detection results of the grain culm rows, and the scanning sensor A is a single unit that swings the scanning sensor A backward upon contact with the grain culm. The scanning sensor A is composed of a rod 6 and a single potentiometer P that converts the amount of swing of the rod 6 into a voltage value, and this tracing sensor A is
A detection area is set within the introduction route where the grain culm rows on the already cut field side are introduced, and the detection area is further rotated to the left.
It is formed by three zones, . The row mowing apparatus includes a steering determination means 8 for determining the steering direction by determining in which of the three voltage ranges set corresponding to the three zones the signal exists. In order to introduce one row of grain culms into the introduction route during work, and to introduce two rows of grain culms into the introduction route during splitting work, the method is set based on the zone of straight-line control during row mowing work during splitting work. A reaping/harvesting machine with a scanning sensor, comprising voltage range changing means B for displacing the straight-line control zone to the outside of the machine body.