JPH036763B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to an automatic steering control device for a reaping harvester such as a combine. There are two types of reaping and harvesting machines: a row cutting mode in which the crop travels along grain culm rows, and a horizontal cutting mode in which the crop travels across the grain culm rows. As is well known, the automatic steering control during row mowing takes the form of automatically steering the machine along a row of grain culms or between the grain culms, and when horizontal mowing, as shown in Figure 3. ,
A sensor S' is provided on the outside side of the planted grain culm introduction path L on the most cut side, and is oscillated by contact with the grain culm.
The degree of deviation of the grain culm with respect to the aircraft body was detected from the swing angle of this sensor S', and steering control was performed so as to introduce the grain culm at the end of the row into the middle of the path _L4 . This horizontal mowing control mode has the advantage of preventing uncut areas as it follows the grain culms at the end of the row, but since the machine follows the unevenness at the end of the row, there will be no unevenness at the end of the row during the next horizontal mowing. When a slight overrun was added to this steering control, as this was repeated two or three times, the irregularities at the ends of the rows gradually became larger, and eventually it became impossible to follow. The purpose of this invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned problems in horizontal mowing dynamic steering control by effectively utilizing sensors for row mowing steering control in horizontal mowing steering control. be. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Fig. 1 schematically shows the reaping section and running section of a two-row reaping combine. In the reaping section, two rows of planted grain culms separated by three divider support punches 1a, 1b, and 1c are introduced. Paths L ₁ and L ₂ are formed, and lifting devices 2 and 2 are provided for each path L ₁ and L ₂ . The traveling section is configured to direct the aircraft by driving and intermittent driving of crawler traveling devices 4L and 4R arranged on the left and right sides of the mission case 3 using steering clutches 5L and 5R. 5R is a single acting hydraulic cylinder 6L, 6
It can be operated with R. The main working mode of this combine harvester is to run the harvester with the side where the control section 7 is provided as the already-cut side.
The central divider support punch 1b has respective paths L ₁ and L ₂ .
When the grain culm introduced into the culm approaches the support pestle 1b beyond a set distance, a first sensor S ₁ and a second sensor S ₂ for detecting the presence or absence of the grain culm contact the grain culm and oscillate.
is attached to the divider support punch 1c located on the already-cut side, and the grain culm introduced into the route _L2 on the already-cut side is attached to the divider support punch 1c located on the already-cut side.
A third sensor S ₃ is provided which contacts this grain culm and oscillates when it approaches. As shown in FIG. 4, the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ have two output contacts a _{1 and 2} with different phases, respectively.
b ₂ , a ₂ , b ₂ , and when each sensor bar is in the return position, the output of contacts a ₁ and a ₂ is "low" (short circuit to earth), and when the sensor bar swings back slightly, the contacts The output of a ₁ and a ₂ becomes "high", and when the sensor bar is swung by a certain angle or more, the output of contacts b ₁ and b ₂ becomes "low",
In addition, the width A of both sensor bars at the return position is set to be smaller than the interval B between adjacent rows and sufficiently larger than the interval C between adjacent plants in the row direction. Further, the third sensor _S3 is configured such that the output of the output contact C becomes "low" when the sensor bar is swung backward. And each of these sensors S ₁ ,
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, S ₂ and S ₃ are electromagnetic control valves 8 that control the operation of the hydraulic cylinders 6L and 6R.
Swing circuit 9L for left turning and drive circuit 9R for right turning
It is connected to the. In addition, the symbol A ₁ ... in the figure is AND
The circuit, R... is an OR circuit, is an inverting circuit, D ₁ and D ₂ are respectively falling delay circuits, and falling delay circuit D ₁
The delay time T ₁ of the circuit D ₂ is set longer than the delay time T ₂ of the other circuit D 2 . Here, the first, second, and third sensors S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃
and an AND circuit interposed between the left-turn swing circuit L and the right-turn swing circuit R of the electromagnetic control valve 8.
A ₁ to _{A 4} , delay circuits D ₁ and D ₂ , OR circuits R ₁ and R ₂ , and inverter Z constitute a control means. Next, the operation of automatic steering control using the above control means will be explained. Row mowing steering control As shown in Figure 5, during row mowing when the machine also moves in the direction of the grain culm rows, the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are simultaneously activated due to the relationship between the plant spacing and sensor bar length. The plants are not touched, therefore, the operating states of both sensors S ₁ and S ₂ in this reaping mode are as shown in the table below, and based on this, the solenoid valve 8 is
The drive circuits 9L and 9R are controlled as shown in the table.

[Table] In general, the third sensor _S3 does not touch the plants during row cutting, but if it detects a plant that has strayed from the row, right-turn control will be performed. Horizontal Mowing Steering Control As shown in Figure 7, during horizontal mowing, in which the machine moves in a direction intersecting the grain culm rows, the first and second
From the relationship between the width A of the sensor bar of the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ and the plant spacing C, both the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ come into contact with the plant. Therefore, even if the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂
is touching the stock and the third sensor _S3 is not touching the stock, the outputs of contacts _a1 , _a2 and c are respectively "high" (1), so both OR circuits _R1 , _R2 The outputs of both become "low" (a), and straight forward movement is maintained,
Note that between the plants, both sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are removed from the plants, resulting in a straight-line control state in the row mowing control mode. Furthermore, even if one of the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ comes off the stock first, the fall delay circuits D ₁ and
The previous straight-ahead control state is maintained by the action of D ₂ .
Therefore, as shown in Figure 2, even if the grain culm row ends are somewhat uneven, they will continue to move straight. Also, when the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are touching the stock and the outputs of contacts a ₁ and a ₂ are both "high" (1), the third sensor S ₃ is touching the stock. When the output of contact c becomes "low" (0), the output of only the OR circuit _R1 becomes "high" (1) by the signal passed through the inverter, and the right turn drive circuit 9R is activated. Also, from the straight-ahead control state shown in Fig. 6, when only the second sensor _S2 is removed from the stock and the output of contact _a2 is switched to "low" (0), the fall delay circuit is activated.
Direct movement is maintained for a certain period of time T ₂ by the action of D ₁ and D ₂ , but the differential time T ₁ − _{T 2} from when one delay circuit D ₂ times up to when the other delay circuit D ₁ times up In this case, only the output of AND circuit _A4 becomes "high", and a left turn is performed. During this time, path L ₂ is introduced and the second sensor
When S ₂ makes contact, the vehicle enters straight-line control mode. In addition to the ON-OFF contact type sensor, an analog type sensor that outputs an output proportional to the swing angle of the sensor bar can also be used. In summary, the automatic steering control device for a reaping and harvesting machine according to the present invention is installed at an intermediate position between adjacent left and right paths among a plurality of planted grain culm introduction paths installed in parallel. A pair of left and right first and second sensors detect the relative lateral deviation between the grain culm stock and the body by sensing the degree of lateral approach to the grain culm stock.
An automatic steering control device for a reaping harvester, which is equipped with a sensor and a control means for automatically controlling the steering mechanism of the machine so that both sensors are at least a certain distance away from the grain culm, ) A third sensor is provided on the outer side of the aircraft body in the outermost planted grain culm introduction route to detect when the grain culm in this route has approached by a certain distance or more. (b) The control means includes a delay means for delaying transmission of a detection result indicating that the first and second sensors are separated from the grain culm by a certain distance. (c) The control means includes a steering control mode for row mowing using the first and second sensors, and a steering control mode for horizontal mowing using the first and second sensors, the third sensor, and the third sensor. The steering control mode is switchable. (d) In the horizontal mowing steering control mode, the control means senses that the third sensor and the grain culm are separated by a certain distance or more, and
When both sensors are sensing the approach of the grain culm at a certain distance or more, the aircraft is driven straight ahead, and when the third sensor is approaching the grain culm within the certain distance, the aircraft is moved to the third sensor. The third sensor and the second sensor, which is closer to the third sensor among the first and second sensors, are each separated from the grain culm by a certain distance or more. When this is detected, the steering mechanism is set to output a steering command signal so as to steer toward the side where the first sensor is present. The characteristic configuration is that it has the configurations (a) to (d) above. That is, as previously explained in the embodiment, during side mowing steering control, straight-line control is performed over a wide range between the third sensor _S3 and the farthest row mowing steering control sensor _S1 . Since the introduced width is the width of the grain culm row end stocks, both the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are located within the grain culm row, and the third sensor S ₃ detects the approach of the grain culm stocks. Otherwise, even if the row ends were lined up with some unevenness, the row ends would run straight without following them, and large irregularities would no longer be formed on the row ends during horizontal mowing in the next process. In particular, this straight running is maintained by the delay means D ₁ ,
Detection hunting is removed by the action of D ₂ , making it reliable and allowing stable straight-line control. In addition, when there is a high risk that the aircraft will enter the uncut side, or when the third sensor approaches the grain culm by a certain distance or more, the aircraft will be steered to the side where the third sensor is located. However, when there is a high risk that the machine will slip out to the harvested side, that is, when both the third sensor and the second sensor detect that the machine is more than a certain distance away from the grain culm, the machine moves to the first It steers toward the side where the sensor is located to prevent the aircraft from unduly deviating from its path. Furthermore, depending on the sensing status of the first, second, and third sensors, the steering control can be automatically switched to the row mowing mode or horizontal mowing mode, so there is no need to manually switch. It's okay. Therefore, sensors S ₁ and S ₂ for row mowing steering control are used to detect plants with a wide straight dead zone width, and two sets of sensors dedicated to side mowing steering control are provided. There is no need for this, and it has become possible to implement it at low cost just by changing the structure of the control circuit. 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 the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the automatic steering control device for a reaping and harvesting machine according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the reaping section and the traveling section, and FIG. Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a working form using conventional side mowing steering control; Fig. 4 is a control circuit diagram showing a neutral state in the row mowing steering control form; Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a working form; The figure is a plan view showing the sensor unit in the row mowing steering control mode, and FIG. 6 is a control circuit diagram showing a neutral state in the side mowing steering control mode.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the sensor section in a horizontal mowing steering control mode. L ₁ , L ₂ ... Planted grain culm introduction path, S ₁ ... First sensor, S ₂ ... Second sensor, S ₃ ... Third sensor, D ₁ , D ₂ ... Delay means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of planted grain culm introduction paths L ₁ and L ₂ arranged in parallel
At the intermediate position between the adjacent left and right paths L ₁ and L ₂ , the degree of lateral approach between the grain culm strain introduced into the left and right paths L ₁ and L ₂ is detected, and this strain and the aircraft are separated. a pair of left and right detecting relative lateral deviations;
A second sensor S ₁ and S ₂ are installed, and both sensors
An automatic steering control device for a reaping harvester, comprising a control means for automatically controlling the steering mechanism of the machine so that S ₁ and S ₂ are both separated from the grain culm by a certain distance or more,
An automatic steering control device for a reaping harvester, characterized by having the following configurations (a) to (d). (a) The planted grain culm introduction path L ₂ located at the outermost side
A third sensor _S3 is provided on the outer side of the fuselage in the interior to detect when the grain culm within this path _L2 approaches by a certain distance or more. (b) The control means includes the first and second sensors.
Delay means D ₁ for delaying the transmission of the detection result that S ₁ and S ₂ are separated from the grain culm by a certain distance or more;
Equipped with D ₂ . (c) The control means includes the first and second sensors.
Switching between a steering control mode for row mowing using S ₁ and S ₂ and a steering control mode for side mowing using the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ and the third sensor S ₃ is set to possible. (d) In the horizontal mowing steering control mode, the control means detects that the third sensor S ₃ is away from the grain culm by a certain distance or more, and the control means detects that the third sensor S 3 is separated from the grain culm by a certain distance _{or more} , and When both S ₂ are sensing the approach of the grain culm above a certain distance, the aircraft is driven straight ahead, and when the third sensor S ₃ is approaching the grain culm within the above-mentioned certain distance, the aircraft is The third sensor S _{3 and} the second sensor closer to the third sensor S ₃ among the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂ When S ₁ senses that each of them is more than a certain distance away from the grain culm, the first sensor
It is set to output a steering command signal to the steering mechanism so as to steer toward the side where _S1 exists.