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Unloading automation system for unloading crop

  • US 10,254,147 B2
  • Filed: 03/23/2017
  • Issued: 04/09/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An unloading automation system for unloading harvested crop from an agricultural vehicle into a container, wherein the agricultural vehicle is equipped with a discharge, the unloading automation system comprising:

  • a filling degree measurement system adapted to, during the unloading, determine a level of harvested crop at at least one position within the container, the filling degree measurement system comprising at least one first ultra wideband tag and at least one first ultra wideband base station, wherein the at least one first ultra wideband tag is arranged to communicate with the at least one first ultra wideband base station via a wireless communication path, wherein the at least one first ultra wideband tag and the at least one first ultra wideband base station are positioned such that their wireless communication path gets distorted as the container is filled, resulting in a weakened ultra wideband pulse received by the at least one first ultra wideband base station;

    a position measurement system adapted to determine a position of the agricultural vehicle relative to the container, the position measurement system comprising at least one second ultra wideband tag and at least one second ultra wideband base station, wherein the at least one second ultra wideband tag is adapted to generate a ultra wideband pulse and arranged to communicate with the at least one second ultra wideband base station, wherein the at least one second ultra wideband tag is fixed in a known position relative to one of the agricultural harvester or the container and the at least one second ultra wideband base station is fixed in a known position relative to the Other of the agricultural harvester or the container, wherein the position measurement system is further adapted to;

    obtain a distance of the at least one second ultra wideband tag to the at least one second ultra wideband base station from a communication between the at least one second ultra wideband tag and the at least one second ultra wideband base station; and

    obtain a position of the agricultural vehicle relative to the container from the distance of the at least one second ultra wideband tag to the at least one second ultra wideband base station,wherein at least one of the ultra wideband base stations or ultra wideband tags is a common ultra wideband base station or a common ultra wideband tag that is in the filing degree measurement system as well as in the position measurement system, andwherein the filling degree measurement system and the position measurement system are adapted to respectively determine the position of the agricultural vehicle relative to the container and the level of the harvested crop at the at least one position within the container based on an ultra wideband pulse which is received or transmitted by the common ultra wideband base station or the common ultra wideband tag.

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