GPS CONTROLLED RESIDUE SPREAD WIDTH

• US 20110270495A1
• Filed: 04/30/2010
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Knapp, Kevin Frederick
• Granted Patent: US 8,463,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/1243 Devices for laying-out or distributing the straw
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/127 Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines

Abstract

A positioning sensor (e.g., GPS) allows a controller to determine the present location and orientation of the harvester on a map and to record the presently and previously harvested portions of a field. The controller uses the map and positional information to determine if the crop residue spray pattern from an adjustable spreader is returns substantially all the crop residue to the currently harvest portion and automatically adjusts the adjustable spreader to achieve an ideal residue spray pattern.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a residue distribution for use with a harvester, comprising:

at least one positioning sensor;

at least one controller for receiving positional information from the positioning sensor;

at least one map accessible by the controller recording portions of a field that have been newly harvested by the harvester;

an electrically adjustable spreader for distributing residue in accordance with control signals for the at least one controller; and

wherein the at least one controller controls the electrically adjustable spreader to substantially limit the residue distribution the portions of a field that have been newly harvested by the harvester.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning sensor comprises a global positioning (GPS) sensor.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one positioning sensor further comprises an electronic compass sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning sensor comprises cell phone having positioning capability.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a graphical interface for displaying information about the at least one map to an operator of the harvester.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the graphical interface allows the operator of the harvester to input parameters that are used by the at least one controller in a determination of how to control the electrically adjustable spreader.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one electrical input from at least one sensor for determining status information about the harvester.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the status information about the harvester comprises a determination whether the harvester is currently harvesting crop.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrically adjustable spreader includes a first rotating device having a first rotational speed and a second rotating device having a second rotational speed that is substantially different from the first rotational speed to create an asymmetric spread pattern for the residue.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrically adjustable spreader includes at least one actuated component to create an asymmetric spread pattern for the residue.

11. A method for controlling distribution of crop residue for use with a harvester, comprising the following steps:

receiving electronic positional information about the position of the harvester;

retrieving a map of an area being harvested from a memory;

automatically updating the map of the area to record a previously harvested area and a recently harvested area from the electronic positional information;

determining a current position of at least a portion of the harvester from the positional information;

determining if a current residue spray pattern distributes a portion of the crop residue to the previously harvested area; and

dynamically adjusting a spreader mechanism via electrical signals to reduce the portion of crop residue that is distributed to the previously harvested area.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information from a GPS sensor.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information electronic compass sensor.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information from a cell phone having positioning capability.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying information about the map to an operator of the harvester.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising at receiving least one electrical input from at least one sensor for determining status information about the harvester.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the automatically updating the map includes a determination whether the harvester is currently harvesting crop based on the least one electrical input.

18. A method for controlling distribution of crop residue for use with a harvester, comprising the following steps:

receiving electronic positional information about the position of the harvester;

retrieving a map of an area being harvested from a memory;

automatically updating the map of the area to record a recently harvested area from the electronic positional information;

determining a current position of at least a portion of the harvester from the positional information;

determining if a current residue spray pattern distributes substantially all of the residue to the recently harvested area; and

dynamically adjusting a spreader mechanism via electrical signals to substantially limit the distribution to the recently harvested area.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information from a GPS sensor.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information electronic compass sensor.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of receiving electronic positional information includes receiving location information from a cell phone having positioning capability.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising displaying information about the map to an operator of the harvester.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising at receiving least one electrical input from at least one sensor for determining status information about the harvester.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the automatically updating the map includes a determination whether the harvester is currently harvesting crop based on the least one electrical input.