Patent ID: 7401455
Filing Date: 2008-07-22
Classification: A01D

Abstract:
1. A control system for automatedly controlling the vertical positioning during a harvesting operation of a base cutter unit of a harvesting machine that includes a chassis supported above the ground by mobile support members and a chassis height adjustment system operable to vertically adjust the height of the chassis relative to the ground surface, the chassis having a base cutter unit operatively connected thereto and an associated ground track system operable to detect irregularities in the ground surface and to produce base cutter height position signals representative of the height of the base cutter unit above the detected ground surface, the base cutter unit including a controllable cutting apparatus, the cutting apparatus having associated therewith a pressure sensing system operable to detect resistance at the cutting apparatus and to produce cutting resistance signals, the control system comprising a processor unit having a user interface portion for the entry of data and control information by an operator, a monitor input portion operatively connected to receive base cutter height position signals and cutting resistance signals, and a controller output portion operatively connected to control the operation of the chassis height adjustment system, the chassis height adjustment system being responsive to height adjustment control signals at said controller output portion to vertically adjust the height of the chassis relative to the ground surface, said processor unit operable under program control, upon initiation thereof by an operator, following entry of desired chassis height data by the operator and the positioning of the chassis to the desired height with the base cutter unit positioned at a nominal position to define a desired cutting height, to thereafter simultaneously monitor and respond to cutting resistance signals and to base cutter height position signals to automatically adjust the height of the chassis and the associated base cutter unit as the harvesting machine traverses the ground in effecting a harvesting cut, said processor unit operating under program control to perform in a test cycle the steps of (a) determining whether, at the time of test, the cutting resistance signal is indicative of a resistance below an established upper limit pressure value and, (b) determining whether, at the time of test, the base cutter height position signal is indicative of a condition in which the base cutter height is at a position within a height bandwidth between predetermined upper and lower bandwidth level limits, and, whereby the position of the cutting apparatus is automatedly and continuously adjusted to cut at approximately the desired cutting height during the course of the harvesting cut operation without the need for operator intervention.