YIELD ESTIMATION

• US 20160084987A1
• Filed: 02/06/2015
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Dybro, Niels, Anderson, Noel W., Bruns, Aaron J., Phelan, James J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,903,979 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/1271 for measuring crop flow
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 45/021 Cornheaders
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/22 for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/00 Measuring the volume flow or mass flow of fluid or fluent solid material wherein the fluid passes through a meter in a continuous flow measuring a proportion of the volume flow G01F5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/00 Measuring force or stress, in general measuring force due to impact G01L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/00 Measuring linear or angular speed; Measuring differences of linear or angular speeds G01P5/00 - G01P11/00 take precedence; direction and speed indication G01P13/045; counting mechanisms G06M
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/00 Arrangements for measuring currents or voltages or for indicating presence or sign thereof G01R5/00 takes precedence; for measuring bioelectric currents or voltages A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method and apparatus estimate yield. A first method comprises receiving a first signal indicating an aggregate yield measured by an aggregate yield sensor during a measurement interval, receiving a second signal indicating a plurality of geo-referenced regions across which a harvester head has traveled prior to the measurement interval, allocating a portion of the aggregate yield to each of at least two geo-referenced regions based upon different travel times for crops from different portions of the head and outputting aggregate yield portion allocations. A second method estimates yield based upon sensed power characteristics across the harvesting width of a harvesting machine.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first signal indicating an aggregate yield measured by an aggregate yield sensor during a measurement interval;

receiving a second signal indicating a plurality of geo-referenced regions across which a harvester has traveled prior to the measurement interval;

allocating a portion of the aggregate yield to each of at least two geo-referenced regions based upon different travel times for crops to the aggregate yield sensor; and

outputting aggregate yield portion allocations.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sensing a pitch of the harvester; and

allocating a portion of the aggregate yield to the plurality of geo-referenced regions based upon the pitch.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sensing a roll of the harvester; and

allocating a portion of the aggregate yield to the plurality of geo-referenced regions based upon the roll.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sensing an attribute of each of a plurality of plants harvested by and across the harvester; and

allocating the aggregate yield amongst the plurality of plants based upon the sensed attribute of each of the plurality of plants.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sensing different levels of power associated with different components of the harvester that interact with different plants across the harvester; and

allocating the aggregate yield amongst the different plants based upon the sensed different levels of power.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising differently weighting allocations of the aggregate yield to the plurality of geo-referenced regions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the geo-referenced regions to which portions of the aggregate yield from the measured interval are allocated are part of a chevron shape.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein allocation of the portions of the aggregate yield from the measured interval to the plurality of geo-referenced regions is based upon a distance traveled by a harvested crop until being sensed by the aggregate yield sensor, conveyance speed applied by each conveyance subsystem and forward speed of the harvester head.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a harvester;

a sensor to output signals indicating an aggregate yield harvested by the harvester header during a measurement interval;

a location identifier to identify a plurality of geo-referenced regions across which the harvester has traveled prior to the measurement interval; and

a processor to;

determine the aggregate yield from the signals outputted by the sensor during the measurement interval and to allocate the aggregate yield to the plurality of geo-referenced regions based upon different travel times for crops sensed by the aggregate sensor during the measurement interval to travel to the aggregate sensor; and

output crop allocations to each of the plurality of geo-referenced regions.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 comprising a second sensor to sense conveyance speed across a transverse width of the harvester, wherein the different travel time is determined based upon the sensed conveyance speed.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a second sensor to sense a pitch of the harvester, wherein the processor allocates a portion of the aggregate yield to at least one geo-referenced region other than the primary geo-referenced region additionally based upon the pitch.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a second sensor to sense a roll of the harvester, wherein the processor allocates a portion of the aggregate yield to at least one geo-referenced region other than the primary geo-referenced region additionally based upon the roll.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a second sensor to sense an attribute of each of a plurality of plants harvested by an across the harvester, wherein the processor allocates the aggregate yield amongst the plurality of plants additionally based upon the sensed attribute of each of the plurality of plants.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the aggregate yield is allocated among sets of plants, each set being harvested by a different transverse portion of the harvester.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sensed attribute comprises a condition resulting from impact of a portion of the plant with the harvester.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising at least one second sensor to sense different levels of power associated with different components of the harvester that interact with different plants across the harvester, wherein the processor allocates aggregate yield amongst the different plants additionally based upon the sensed different levels of power.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a harvester head having a crop harvesting width;

different components across the harvesting width to interact with plants being harvested;

at least one sensor to sense a power characteristic associated with each of the different components; and

a processing unit to output a crop quantity distribution signal based upon differences in the level of power associated with the different components across the harvesting width.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the harvester head comprises a row crop head having row units and wherein each of the row units comprises one of the different components.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the different components comprise different members that sever the different plants across the harvesting width, the different components selected from a group of components consisting of:

a snap roller, a stalk chopper, a sickle bar and a cutter bar.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the different components comprise different members that convey harvested portions of the different plants from different portions of the harvester head across the harvesting width.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a sensor selected from a group of sensors consisting of:

the voltage sensor, a current sensor, torque sensor, a hydraulic pressure sensor, a hydraulic flow sensor, force sensor, a bearing load sensor and a rotational sensor.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the crop quantity distribution signal comprises a signal indicating different distributions with respect to a parameter selected from a group of parameters consisting of:

grain yield, non-grain yield and biomass yield.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the crop quantity distribution signal is geo-referenced or time stamped.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing unit correlates the sensed power characteristic associated with each of the different components to crop yield to output the crop quantity distribution signal that indicates an estimated yield for different plants being harvested across the harvesting width.

25. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising an aggregate yield sensor to measure an aggregate yield by the harvester head during a measurement interval, wherein the processor allocates the aggregate yield amongst different portions of the harvester head across the harvesting width based upon the crop quantity distribution signal.

26. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising an aggregate yield sensor to measure an aggregate yield by the harvester head during a measurement interval, wherein the processor allocates the aggregate yield to a plurality of geo-referenced or time stamped regions from which plants were harvested by different portions of the harvester head across the harvesting width based upon different travel times for crops sensed by the aggregate sensor during the measurement interval to travel to the aggregate sensor in combination with the crop quantity distribution signal.

27. A method comprising:

using different components to interact with plants being harvested across a harvesting width of a harvester;

sensing a power characteristic of each of the different components as the plants are being harvested; and

outputting a crop quantity distribution signal for plants being harvested by different portions of the harvesting width based upon the sensed power characteristic of each of the different components.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising correlating the sensed power characteristic for each of the different components, as a plants are being harvested, to a crop yield to output the crop quantity distribution signal, wherein the crop quantity distribution signal indicates an estimated yield for plants across the harvesting width.

29. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

sensing, with an aggregate sensor, an aggregate yield during a measurement interval; and

allocating the aggregate yield to a plurality of geo-referenced or time stamped regions from which plants were harvested by different portions of the harvester head across the harvesting width based upon different travel times for different portions of the aggregate yield sensed by the aggregate sensor during the measurement interval to travel to the aggregate sensor in combination with the crop quantity distribution signal.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the different components comprise different members that sever the different plants across the harvesting width, the different components selected from a group of components consisting of:

a snap roller, a stalk chopper and a cutter bar.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the different components comprise different members that convey harvested portions of the different plants from different portions of the harvester head across the harvesting width.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the power characteristic is sensed by a power sensor selected from a group of power sensors consisting of:

the voltage sensor, a current sensor, torque sensor, a hydraulic pressure sensor, a hydraulic flow sensor, force sensor, a bearing load sensor and a rotational sensor.

33. An apparatus comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program logic to direct a processor to;

receive a first signal indicating a power characteristic of each of a plurality of power sensors across the harvesting width of a harvesting machine;

output a second signal indicating a crop yield for plants harvested by different portions of the harvesting width based upon the power characteristics of each of the power sensors across the harvesting width.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the program logic is further to direct the processor to correlate each of the sensed power characteristic to a yield amount, wherein the second signal indicating the crop yield based upon the yield amount associate with each of the sensed power characteristics.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the program logic is further direct the processor to:

receive a third signal indicating an aggregate yield sensed by an aggregate yield sensor during a measurement interval; and

allocate the aggregate yield to a plurality of geo-referenced or time stamped regions from which plants were harvested across the harvesting width based upon different travel times for different portions of the aggregate yield sensed by the aggregate sensor during the measurement interval to travel to the aggregate yield sensor and a comparison of the sensed power characteristics across the harvesting width, wherein the second signal indicating the crop yield is based upon the allocation of the aggregate yield.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the second signal is geo-referenced or time stamped.