Soil compaction management and reporting

• US 9,511,633 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Anderson, Noel Wayne, Hendrickson, Larry Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Jabr, Fadey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahne, Kevin P
• Application Number:
  US13/212,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20130046419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,938 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/007 Steering or guiding of agricultural vehicles, e.g. steering of the tractor to keep the plough in the furrow
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/002 by monitoring conditions other than tyre pressure or deformation
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2054 Fleet management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/23 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/14 Measures for saving energy, e.g. in green houses

Abstract

Systems and techniques are provided for managing an interface between a machine or work vehicle and a surface that the machine/work vehicle travels on in order to provide an optimum work performance level that balances fuel efficiency and surface adversity. Fleet management and reporting capabilities pertaining to such interface management are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for managing soil compaction on a worksite, comprising steps of:

generating a first map of soil compaction susceptibility of at least a portion of the worksite;

generating a path within the worksite based on the first map which minimizes the soil compaction while carrying out a mission at the worksite;

guiding at least one vehicle along the path while recording virtual foot parameters of the vehicle, wherein at least one virtual foot parameter of the virtual foot parameters is associated with a virtual foot of the vehicle comprising at least one of a wheel, a track, a track wheel, an inflatable tire, a tire with shape adjustment using magneto-rheological materials, a tire with shape adjustment using electro-rheological materials and a wheel which change footprint.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the recorded virtual foot parameters to a remote data processing system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining in situ soil characteristic data; and

modifying the generated first map based on the obtained in situ soil characteristic data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one virtual foot parameter is at least one of a tire pressure, a shape of a ground contacting element contacting a surface, and a number of ground contacting elements contacting the surface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises a plurality of the virtual foot that is each independently controlled when improving stabilization of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one v-foot parameter is varied for a given v-foot in response to sensing an unstable operating condition with respect to another v-foot.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle varies a plurality of virtual foot parameters associated with each of two or more virtual feet of a single machine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle varies the virtual foot parameters based on at least one of real-time data provided by a wireless interface, historical data provided by a storage device, and predicted data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the vehicle varies the virtual foot parameters in advance of on-board sensors indicating a need to vary the virtual foot parameters.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle varies (i) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one virtual foot of the vehicle and (ii) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one virtual foot of an implement attached to the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle varies (i) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one powered virtual foot of the vehicle and (ii) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one powered virtual foot of a second vehicle attached to the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual foot parameters of the vehicle that are recorded further comprise environmental data for an environment proximate to the vehicle, wherein the environmental data comprises at least one of air temperature, surface temperature and surface texture.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a taken path that was actually taken by the at least one vehicle while guiding the at least one vehicle along the path is also recorded while guiding the at least one vehicle along the path.

14. The method of claim 13, where the taken path comprises a geo-referenced and time-stamped path that was actually taken.

15. A soil compaction management system, comprising a data processor coupled to a memory comprising instructions for performing steps of:

generating a first map of soil compaction susceptibility of at least a portion of the worksite;

generating a path within the worksite based on the first map which minimizes the soil compaction while carrying out a mission at the worksite;

guiding at least one vehicle along the path while recording virtual foot parameters of the vehicle, wherein at least one virtual foot parameter of the virtual foot parameters is associated with a virtual foot of the vehicle comprising at least one of a wheel, a track, a track wheel, an inflatable tire, a tire with shape adjustment using magneto-rheological materials, a tire with shape adjustment using electro-rheological materials and a wheel which change footprint.

16. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, further comprising transmitting the recorded virtual foot parameters to a remote data processing system.

17. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, further comprising:

obtaining in situ soil characteristic data; and

modifying the generated first map based on the obtained in situ soil characteristic data.

18. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the at least one virtual foot parameter is at least one of a tire pressure, a shape of a ground contacting element contacting a surface, and a number of ground contacting elements contacting the surface.

19. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle comprises a plurality of the virtual foot that is each independently controlled when improving stabilization of the vehicle.

20. The soil compaction management system of claim 19, wherein at least one v-foot parameter is varied for a given v-foot in response to sensing an unstable operating condition with respect to another v-foot.

21. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle varies a plurality of virtual foot parameters associated with each of two or more virtual feet of a single machine.

22. The soil compaction management system of claim 21, wherein the vehicle varies the virtual foot parameters based on at least one of real-time data provided by a wireless interface, historical data provided by a storage device, and predicted data.

23. The soil compaction management system of claim 22, wherein the vehicle varies the virtual foot parameters in advance of on-board sensors indicating a need to vary the virtual foot parameters.

24. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle varies (i) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one virtual foot of the vehicle and (ii) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one virtual foot of an implement attached to the vehicle.

25. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the vehicle varies (i) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one powered virtual foot of the vehicle and (ii) at least one virtual foot parameter associated with at least one powered virtual foot of a second vehicle attached to the vehicle.

26. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein the virtual foot parameters of the vehicle that are recorded further comprise environmental data for an environment proximate to the vehicle, wherein the environmental data comprises at least one of air temperature, surface temperature and surface texture.

27. The soil compaction management system of claim 15, wherein a taken path that was actually taken by the at least one vehicle while guiding the at least one vehicle along the path is also recorded while guiding the at least one vehicle along the path.

28. The method of claim 27, where the taken path comprises a geo-referenced and time-stamped path that was actually taken.