Automatically detecting or estimating material delivery delays and machine control
Material is metered by a meter into a delivery conduit from a tank and delivered to a tool on an agricultural machine. A sensor detects when the material arrives at the tool. A delay time is detected between when the meter is activated and when the sensor detects the material. The agricultural machine is controlled based on the delay time.
1 . An agricultural system, comprising:
a material application implement;
a material tank;
a delivery conduit coupled to the material application implement;
a meter configured to meter material from the material tank into the delivery conduit;
a meter control system configured to activate the meter;
a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement;
a material sensor configured to sense material flowing at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the material;
a material flow monitoring system configured to identify a flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the flow characteristic;
a flow timing control system configured to:
determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a flow threshold based on the material flow output;
identify a flow start delay based on when the meter is activated by the meter control system, when the material sensor senses the material, and the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the flow threshold; and
a control system configured to generate a control signal to control a portion of the agricultural system based on the flow start delay.
2 . The agricultural system of claim 1 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to:
deactivate the meter; and
detect a flow stop delay based on when the meter is deactivated by the meter control system and when the material sensor stops sensing the material.
3 . The agricultural system of claim 2 wherein the material flow monitoring system is configured to identify a second flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the second flow characteristic.
4 . The agricultural system of claim 3 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a second flow threshold based on the material flow output.
5 . The agricultural system of claim 4 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to identify the flow stop delay based on the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the second flow threshold.
6 . The agricultural system of claim 1 wherein the blower is configured to operate at a plurality of different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect flow timing values corresponding each of the plurality of different blower speeds.
7 . The agricultural system of claim 6 wherein the control system is configured to identify a current blower speed, access the corresponding flow timing value and generate the control signal based on the accessed flow timing value.
8 . A system for controlling an agricultural material application machine that includes a material meter and a material application implement, the system comprising:
a material sensor configured to sense flow of material at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the flow of material;
a material flow monitoring system configured to generate a flow output indicative of a characteristic of the material flow based on the sensor signal;
a flow timing control system configured to:
generate estimated time delay information corresponding to material traveling between the material meter and the material application implement through a delivery conduit;
determine when material flow of the material flowing at the material application implement meets a first flow threshold based on the flow output and generate a flow start output;
identify a flow start delay indicative of a time that the material takes to begin flowing at the material application implement, based on flow start output, after activation of the material meter to dispense the material into the delivery conduit;
determine when material flow of the material flowing at the material application implement drops below a second flow threshold based on the flow output and generate a flow stop output;
detect a flow stop delay indicative of a time that the material takes to stop flowing at the material application implement, based on flow stop output, after deactivation of the material meter to stop dispensing the material into the delivery conduit;
perform a comparison to compare the estimated time delay information to the flow start delay and the flow stop delay and update, based on the comparison, the estimated time delay information to obtain updated estimated time delay information; and
a machine control system configured to generate a control signal to control the agricultural material application machine based on the updated estimated time delay information.
9 . The system of claim 8 wherein the comparison comprises a determination of a threshold difference between the estimated time delay information and one or more of the flow start delay or the flow stop delay.
10 . The system of claim 8 wherein the material meter is activated to dispense material into the delivery conduit and wherein the agricultural material application machine comprises:
a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the material meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement; and
a material sensor configured to sense flow of material at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the flow of material.
11 . The system of claim 10 wherein the blower is controllable to operate at different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to automatically detect a time delay corresponding to material traveling between the material meter and the material application implement through the delivery conduit at the different blower speeds.
12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the flow timing control system is configured to update the estimated time delay information based on a user acceptance input.
13 . An agricultural system, comprising:
a material application implement;
a material tank;
a delivery conduit coupled to the material application implement;
a meter configured to meter material from the material tank into the delivery conduit;
a meter control system configured to activate the meter;
a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement;
a material sensor configured to sense material flowing at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the material;
a material flow monitoring system configured to identify a flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the flow characteristic;
a flow timing control system configured to:
determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a flow threshold based on the material flow output;
identify a flow stop delay based on when the meter is deactivated by the meter control system, when the material sensor stops sensing the material, and the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the flow threshold; and
a control system configured to generate a control signal to control a portion of the agricultural system based on the flow stop delay.
14 . The agricultural system of claim 13 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect a flow start delay based on when the meter is activated by the meter control system and when the material sensor senses the material.
15 . The agricultural system of claim 14 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a second flow threshold based on the material flow output.
16 . The agricultural system of claim 15 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to identify the flow start delay based on the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the second flow threshold.
17 . The agricultural system of claim 13 wherein the blower is configured to operate at a plurality of different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect flow timing values corresponding each of the plurality of different blower speeds.
18 . The agricultural system of claim 17 wherein the control system is configured to identify a current blower speed, access the corresponding flow timing value and generate the control signal based on the accessed flow timing value.