DE102023111758A1 - Method for controlling an agricultural machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling an agricultural machine comprising the following steps:
- Detecting a position of an agricultural machine in relation to a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface,
- Controlling an actuator of a front implement and/or a rear implement when or before crossing the geolocated headland boundary,
- wherein the controlling comprises raising and/or lowering a front tool and/or a rear tool.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool.

Description

The invention relates to a method for controlling an agricultural machine and a device for controlling an actuating device of a front and/or rear tool.

It is well known that a tractor driver or a driver of a towing vehicle is busy turning the towing vehicle and the attached work machine when entering a headland. This requires a high level of attention.

The driver is also required to manually control hydraulic functions while driving in the field, such as raising a wheel track eradicator before entering a headland and lowering it again after leaving the headland.

Against this background, it is the object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling an agricultural machine and a device for controlling it, which provides relief for the driver of a tractor including the attached work machine.

This object is achieved by the features of the independent claims. Further advantageous developments are the subject of the subclaims.

A first aspect of the present invention comprises a method for controlling an agricultural machine.

The method according to the invention comprises the following steps.

A first step involves recording the position of an agricultural machine in relation to a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface. This can also be referred to as geofencing.

A position can be detected by means of a position detection device which is designed as a receiver for a global navigation satellite system.

The position detection device can be designed as a receiver for NAVSTAR GPS (Global Positioning System) of the United States of America, GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) of the Russian Federation, Galileo of the European Union and/or Beidou of the People's Republic of China.

In addition, the method includes a further step of controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool when or before the geolocated headland boundary is exceeded. The control includes raising and/or lowering a front tool and/or a rear tool. As a result, the driver of a tractor can be relieved. The processing precision of a field at night or at higher speeds can also be increased.

The actuating device may comprise a hydraulic or an electric motor.

Furthermore, the front and/or rear tool can be a soil cultivation tool or a marking tool.

The front and/or rear tool can also have a track marker as a marking tool and/or a wheel track eradicator unit or a track eradicator as a soil cultivation tool.

In addition, the front and/or rear tool can have a field roller, a plough, a compact disc harrow, a cultivator, a rotary harrow or a rotary cultivator as a soil tillage tool.

It is also possible that the front and/or rear tool includes a seed drill or precision seed drill as a soil tillage tool.

The recording of a position of an agricultural machine can be preceded by a process step of creating, defining and/or automatically recognizing a field, before or when driving into the field. This step can therefore take place before or when driving into a field to be worked.

Creating, determining and/or automatically detecting may include loading a database storing data of fields, such as cadastral data of fields, and/or data of boundaries of fields on the earth's surface.

This allows the size, position and course of a field to be determined. Consequently, the outer boundaries of the field can be determined.

In addition, the creation, setting and/or automatic detection may include the creation or setting of at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth’s surface. Put simply, boundaries inside a field can be set or determined for a field.

Creating or setting up at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface can include loading a database in which data from different front and/or rear tools is stored. This makes it possible, for example, to find out what working width and/or working length a corresponding or used tool has.

When creating or setting up at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, a computing unit can calculate a headland boundary for a virtual headland for the respective field on the earth's surface based on the loaded data for a field and based on the loaded data for a front and/or rear implement. Consequently, the dimensions or lengths and widths of a headland for a corresponding or used front and/or rear implement can be calculated in relation to the corresponding field.

The step of controlling an actuating device or the controlling of an actuating device can comprise a lifting depending on the detected position relative to the at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, namely before the front and/or rear tool enters a virtual headland or before the front and/or rear tool exceeds or drives over the at least one geolocated headland boundary.

The step of controlling an actuating device or controlling an actuating device depending on the detected position relative to the at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface can also comprise lowering after the front and/or rear tool moves out of a virtual headland or after the front and/or rear tool has exceeded or driven over the at least one geolocated headland boundary.

A second aspect of the present invention comprises a device for controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool.

It is expressly pointed out that the features of the method as mentioned under the first aspect can be used in the device individually or in combination with one another.

A device for controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool comprises a processing unit in which the method according to the first aspect of the claims is carried out.

The processing unit can have interfaces to a hydraulic control system.

Furthermore, the device can comprise a computing unit for calculating at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface.

In addition, the device can have a database and/or an interface for connecting to a database. The interface can be a radio module for data communication or a mobile phone.

The database can contain data from fields, such as field data, and/or data from field boundaries on the earth's surface. In addition, the database can contain data from different front and/or rear tools, which makes it possible to find out their working lengths and working widths.

In the following, the inventive concept presented above is expressed again and additionally in other words.

This idea concerns - in simplified terms - the control of hydraulic functions that are manually operated at the headland when lowering and raising. With this invention, these can be controlled automatically in the appropriate order.

In other words, the timely control of valves for raising or lowering a hydraulic tool is automated.

Particularly preferably, a control or control device in the form of section control is provided, which is designed to control the hydraulics, in particular the valves, accordingly. Also preferred is a hydraulic sequential circuit which is controlled and/or regulated by means of the section control.

As a concrete example, a leading wheel track eradicator can serve as a hydraulic tool. Without the present invention, this currently has to be controlled manually by a driver, which is a laborious task, so that the existing seedbed is not destroyed when driving across the road. This effort for the driver can be eliminated with the present invention.

• 1 einen schematischen Ablauf eines Verfahrens zur Steuerung einer landwirtschaftlichen Maschine.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an embodiment in conjunction with an associated drawing. Here:

• 1 a schematic flow of a method for controlling an agricultural machine.

1 shows a schematic flow of a method for controlling an agricultural machine.

Roughly described, the method comprises a first step 100 and a second step 200.

Here, the first step 100 comprises detecting a position of an agricultural machine in relation to a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface. This can also be referred to as so-called geofencing.

The position of an agricultural machine is detected by means of a position detection device which is designed as a receiver for a global navigation satellite system.

In this case, the position detection device is designed as a receiver for NAVSTAR GPS (Global Positioning System) of the United States of America.

A further or second step 200 comprises controlling an actuating device of a rear implement when or before the geolocated headland boundary is exceeded. The control includes raising and/or lowering a front implement and/or a rear implement.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the actuating device has a hydraulic system, wherein the rear tool is a soil tillage tool or wherein the rear tool has a wheel track eradicator unit or a track eradicator as a soil tillage tool.

In addition, the rear tool can include a seed drill as a soil cultivation tool.

As from 1 As is also apparent, the detection of a position of an agricultural machine is preceded by the creation, definition and/or automatic recognition of a field as method step 50. This step takes place before or when driving on a field to be worked.

The creation, definition and/or automatic recognition includes loading a database in which data from fields, such as field cadastral data, and/or data from field boundaries on the earth's surface are stored. The size, position and course of a field are now known. The outer boundaries of the field are also known.

Furthermore, the creation, setting and/or automatic detection includes creating or setting up at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface. Put simply, boundaries inside a field can be set or determined for a field.

Creating or setting up a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface involves loading a database in which data from different rear implements is stored. This makes it possible to find out, for example, what working width and working length a corresponding or used rear implement has.

When creating or setting up a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, a computing unit calculates a headland boundary for a virtual headland for the respective field on the earth's surface based on the loaded data for the field and the loaded data for the rear implement. Consequently, the dimensions or lengths and widths of a headland for the corresponding or used rear implement are calculated in relation to the corresponding field.

Returning to the second step 200, controlling an actuating device depending on the detected position relative to the geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface further comprises lifting before the rear implement enters the virtual headland or before the rear implement crosses or drives over the geolocated headland boundary.

In addition, controlling an actuating device depending on the detected position relative to the geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface includes lowering after the rear implement moves out of the virtual headland or after the rear implement has exceeded or passed over the geolocated headland boundary.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the present invention also provides a device for controlling an actuating device of a rear tool. The device has a processing unit in which the method described above is carried out.

Both the method and the device offer the advantage that the driver of a tractor can be relieved of tasks. The automated operation of tools also enables precise work at night or at higher speeds. In addition, resources can be saved by not subjecting the headland to additional processing.

Claims (7)

Method for controlling an agricultural machine, comprising the following steps: - detecting a position of an agricultural machine in relation to a geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, - controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool when or before the geolocated headland boundary is exceeded, - wherein the controlling comprises raising and/or lowering a front tool and/or a rear tool. procedure according to claim 1 , - where the detection of a position of an agricultural machine is preceded by the creation, definition and/or automatic recognition of a field, before or during driving into the field. procedure according to claim 2 , - wherein the creating, determining and/or automatically detecting comprises loading a database in which data of fields and/or data of boundaries of the fields on the earth's surface are stored. procedure according to claim 2 or 3 , - wherein the creation, setting and/or automatic recognition comprises creating or creating at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, - wherein the creation or creation of at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface comprises loading a database in which data from different front and/or rear tools are stored, - wherein when creating or creating at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface, a computing unit calculates a headland boundary for a virtual headland for the respective field on the earth's surface based on the loaded data for a field and based on loaded data for a front and/or rear tool. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein controlling an actuating device as a function of the detected position relative to the at least one geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface comprises raising before the front and/or rear implement exceeds the at least one geolocated headland boundary, and/or - wherein controlling an actuating device as a function of the detected position relative to the geolocated headland boundary on the earth's surface comprises lowering after the front and/or rear implement has exceeded the at least one geolocated headland boundary. Method according to one of the preceding claims, - wherein the actuating device comprises a hydraulic or an electric motor, and - wherein the front and/or rear tool comprises a track marker as a marking tool and/or a track loosener as a soil cultivation tool. Device for controlling an actuating device of a front tool and/or a rear tool, comprising: - a processing unit in which the method according to one of the preceding claims is carried out.

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