Agricultural harvester including feedback control of chopping parameters
An agricultural harvester for harvesting a crop on a field. The harvester includes a chopping assembly configured to chop a crop residue of the harvested crop. The chopping assembly includes an inlet for receiving the crop residue, a rotor provided with one or more cutting tools and configured to chop the crop residue, a drive assembly configured to drive the rotor, and an outlet for outputting the chopped crop residue onto the field. The harvester further includes an image based sensor configured to generate a signal comprising an image of the chopped crop residue and a processing unit configured to receive the signal from the image based sensor, process the signal to derive a geometric parameter indicative of a geometry of the chopped crop residue, and determine a control signal for the drive assembly based on the geometric parameter.
1. An agricultural harvester for harvesting a crop on a field, the harvester comprising:
a chopping assembly configured to chop a crop residue of the harvested crop, the chopping assembly comprising:
an inlet for receiving the crop residue;
a rotor comprising one or more cutting tools and configured to chop the crop residue;
a drive assembly configured to drive the rotor;
an outlet for outputting the chopped crop residue onto the field; and
an image based sensor configured to generate a signal comprising an image of the chopped crop residue;
a processing unit configured to:
receive the signal from the image based sensor;
process the signal to derive a geometric parameter of a geometry of the chopped crop residue; and
determine a control signal for the drive assembly based on the geometric parameter.
2. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the image based sensor comprises a CCD or CMOS camera.
3. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the image based sensor is a linear CCD or COMS camera mounted to the outlet.
4. The agricultural harvester according to claim 3 , wherein the linear CCD or CMOS camera extends over a width of the outlet of the chopping assembly.
5. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , further comprising a further image sensor mounted to the inlet of the chopping assembly, the further image sensor being configured to provide a further signal comprising an image of the crop residue at the inlet.
6. The agricultural harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to receive the further signal and process the further signal to derive a further geometric parameter therefrom, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the control signal for the drive assembly based further on the further geometric parameter.
7. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the control signal for the drive assembly by applying a pattern recognition algorithm to the signal to derive the geometric parameter.
8. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the control signal for the drive assembly by applying a shape recognition algorithm to the signal to derive the geometric parameter.
9. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the geometric parameter is a length or length distribution of the chopped crop residue.
10. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the geometric parameter is a percentage of splitted stems of the chopped crop residue.
11. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the control signal comprises a speed control command for the drive assembly to control a rotary speed of the rotor of the chopping assembly.
12. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the chopping assembly further comprises a guiding surface for guiding the crop residue during the chopping by the rotor.
13. The agricultural harvester according to claim 12 , wherein the guiding surface comprises a guiding member that is at least partly displaceable relative to a rotary axis of the rotor.
14. The agricultural harvester according to claim 13 , wherein the guiding member comprises a concave plate.
15. The agricultural harvester according to claim 13 , wherein the chopping assembly further comprises a guiding member actuator for displacing the guiding member, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to determine a second control signal for the guiding member actuator based on the geometric parameter.
16. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the chopping assembly further comprises a shred bar substantially extending along a width of the chopping assembly, the shred bar being displaceable relative to the rotor.
17. The agricultural harvester according to claim 16 , wherein the chopping assembly further comprises a shred bar actuator for displacing the shred bar, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to determine a third control signal for the shred bar actuator based on the geometric parameter.
18. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , further comprising a bi-directional communication link between the image based sensor and the processing unit, the processing unit being configured to provide a sensor control signal to the image based sensor for controlling an operating parameter of the image based sensor.
19. The agricultural harvester according to claim 1 , further comprising a power sensor for sensing a power consumption of the drive assembly, the power sensor being configured to provide a power signal to the processing unit.
20. The agricultural harvester according to claim 19 , wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the control signal further based on the power signal.