Agricultural vehicle with treatment device which is adjustable in its position and/or orientation relative to the vehicle

• US 6,073,070 A
• Filed: 11/17/1997
• Issued: 06/06/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CLAAS KGaA mbH
• Original Assignee: CLAAS KGaA mbH
• Inventors: Diekhans, Norbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US08/971,660
• Time in Patent Office: 932 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/50, 701/200, 701/207, 701/215, 701/216, 701/217, 701/300, 340/988, 340/990, 342/357.14, 342/357.17, 342/357.12, 180/167, 180/6.7, 180/41, 280/5.514, 280/6.157
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/127 Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/141 Automatic header control
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 75/287 acting on the mowing table A01D75/285 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2300/08 Agricultural vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2300/083 Boom carrying vehicles, e.g. for crop spraying
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2300/09 Construction vehicles, e.g. graders, excavators
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2400/824 Travel path sensing; Track monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2401/16 GPS track data
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2500/30 Height or ground clearance

Abstract

An agricultural vehicle has a main vehicle, a treatment device arranged adjustably relative to the vehicle with respect to at least one of a position and an orientation of the treatment device, a satellite navigation receiving unit, and an evaluating unit which determines from data of the satellite navigation receiving unit an absolute position of at least one reference point on the treatment device in a terrestrial reference system.

Claims

1. An agricultural vehicle, comprising a main vehicle;

a treatment device arranged adjustably relative to said main vehicle with respect to at least one a position and an orientation of said treatment device;

a satellite navigation receiving unit provided on a point of said main vehicle for determination of a position of said main vehicle; and

an evaluating unit which determines from data of said satellite navigation receiving unit an absolute position of at least one reference point on said treatment device in connection with at least one sensor which allows to determine a relative position of said treatment device to said main vehicle.

2. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said satellite navigation receiving unit has a receiving antenna which is mounted on a reference point of said treatment device for determination of an absolute position of said at least one reference point.

3. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said satellite navigation receiving unit has a receiving antenna arranged on a point of said main vehicle for determination of a position of said at least one reference point;

and further comprising a sensor determining a relative position of said treatment device to said main vehicle.

4. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising a height sensor determining a relative height of said treatment device relative to said main vehicle.

5. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising a transverse inclination sensor which determines a relative transverse inclination of said treatment device relative to said main vehicle.

6. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising a sensor selected from the group consisting of a height sensor for determining a relative height of said treatment device relative to said main vehicle and a transverse inclination sensor for determining a relative transverse inclination of said treatment device relative to said main vehicle, said evaluating unit receiving a signal from said at least one sensor and transforming an absolute position of a point on the main vehicle determined by a satellite navigation to at least one reference point on said treatment device for determination of its absolute position.

7. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said evaluating unit is formed so that with use of said absolute position of said at least one reference point and a further point or a vector, it determines a characteristic reference line in a terrestrial reference system for an application of said treatment device.

8. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 7, wherein said evaluating unit determines said characteristic reference line which is provided by said reference point and a direction of a speed vector of said reference point.

9. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 7;

and further comprising control electronic means of an automatic steering device arranged so that said reference line is further processed in said control electronic means as a steering signal.

10. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 7, wherein said evaluating unit is formed so that it determines a further characteristic reference line by said reference point and a further point or a vector.

11. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 10, wherein said evaluating unit determines said further reference line from said reference point and said further point or said vector transversely to a preferable traveling direction and therefore substantially perpendicular to said first mentioned reference line.

12. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 10, wherein said evaluating unit is formed so that said further reference line is determined by said first mentioned reference point and a second reference point.

13. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 10;

and further comprising means for determining a transverse inclination of a ground surface from said further reference line.

14. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 10;

and further comprising means for regulating a ground distance and a transverse inclination of said treatment device with the use of said further reference line.

15. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 12, wherein said evaluating unit determines said further reference line from said two reference points so that said two reference points in an immovable condition are located at a same distance over a ground surface and an inclination of said further characteristic line corresponds to an inclination of the ground surface.

16. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 15, wherein said both reference points are determined so that said inclination of said reference line corresponds to an inclination of the ground surface transversely to a preferable traveling direction.

17. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising means for determining a distance from a ground surface of at least one of a reference point and a reference line.

18. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said evaluating unit is formed so that from a distance and a transverse inclination of said treatment device it determines a transverse inclination of a ground surface and further comprising means for continuously indicating said transverse inclination of said treatment device and said transverse inclination of said ground surface during position changes of said main vehicle and computing a three-dimensional terrain profile.

19. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising means for determining a direction of a speed vector of said reference point received from data of said satellite navigation receiving unit, from two timely successive absolute positions of said reference point.

20. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 19;

and further comprising means for determining a direction of a speed vector of said reference point from data of said satellite navigation receiving unit from sensor means for determining a speed.

21. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising means for calculating a direction of a speed vector from a relative position and a relative speed of said reference point to a reference point on said main vehicle and an absolute position and a speed of said reference point.

22. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said satellite navigation receiving unit is provided with ground connected pseudo satellites.

23. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein a reception of said satellite navigation receiving unit is supported by ground connected pseudo satellite.

24. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising means for performing an additional dead reckoning navigation.

25. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 24, wherein said means for additional dead reckoning navigation include a gyro compass.

26. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1;

and further comprising means for storing a value selected from the group consisting of a drop, an inclination, and a transverse drop, joined with a position of said at least one reference point.

27. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said treatment device with use of values determined by said evaluating unit is controllable exclusively by determined position data in connection with a historic data cadastre.

28. An agricultural vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said values determined by said evaluating unit referred to said treatment device, are placed in a historic data cadastre, to control further treatments with same or other agricultural vehicles with controllable treatment devices on the basis of the historic data cadastre.