Patent Publication Number: US-2021169006-A1

Title: Electronic soil coping system applied to a grain harvesting platform

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     An electronic soil copying system, as applied to a platform intended for collecting agricultural products, with the joint application to a self-propelled agricultural vehicle, more precisely for harvesting grains such as peanuts, beans or any other product which may be spread on plots and may be collected from the soil. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The current state of the art already knows the self-propelled device as disclosed by the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 9,775,294, disclosing a harvesting platform with a mechanical system by means of bearings adaptable to the soil level, independently adjusted for each plot to be collected. 
     The state of the art already knows a peanut harvester combined to a header for lifting peanut laden vines from the ground, disclosed by the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,114, incorporating an auger for distributing the peanut laden vines; a series of cylinders for threshing the peanut laden vines and a series of separator cylinders to remove the peanuts from the laden vines, including fingers to propel the vines and rotate at a variable flailing speed; said fingers including tips which vary in angle with respect to the path defined by the fingers, while said separator cylinders rotate. 
     The state of the art also knows a collecting conveyor with slots, shafts and a chain impelled by a gear, disclosed by the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 9,788,488, collecting the material laid on the plot and transporting it to inside the harvesting device. 
     All state-of-the-art documents as mentioned have the main inconvenience that the collecting height references by bearings cannot be readjusted during the harvest, which is a desired condition, due to pre-existing irregularities on the soil and those as created during uprooting. 
     All the state-of-the-art documents as mentioned also present the inconvenience that the mechanical soil copying system has considerable weight, causing soil compaction. 
     Another inconvenience caused by the current skills is related to the difficulties to prepare tailpieces at the end of streets, and undesired materials next to the mass located on the soil may be collected. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to propose a device which is able to overcome the inconveniences in the state of the art. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention seeks to provide an electronic soil copying system applied to the grain harvesting platform, improving the research performance, reducing losses and improving the processing quality of the harvested material. 
     The present invention also seeks to provide an electronic soil copying system as applied to the grain harvesting platform, acting independently for each plot, able to follow a soil profile, with excellent response time for actuation. 
     The electronic soil copying system as presented herein is also able to adjust height working parameters during the collecting process, adapting itself to soil irregularities and to those irregularities caused by uprooting, increasing efficiency and reducing loss. 
     The electronic soil copying system as presented herein may combine collecting of at least one belt, at any time of collection, individually, in pairs, or all of them jointly. 
     The electronic soil copying system as presented herein will allow the grain collection platform to perform tailpieces at row ends, not collecting undesired materials. 
     The electronic soil copying system as presented herein also allows to increase the width of collecting belts for grain harvesting. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  shows a block diagram for belt collecting height control. 
         FIG. 2  shows a block diagram for collecting belt blocking selection. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The electronic soil copying system of the claimed invention will be preferably, but not solely, applied to the grain collection platform as disclosed by the application U.S. Ser. No. 16/149,984, dated Oct. 2, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electronic soil copying system is activated by the user (U), by inputting into the monitor ( 10 ) the values established for the collecting heights of the left belt (A 1 ), the middle belt (A 2 ) and the right belt (A 3 ) , said values being fed into the electronic module ( 20 ), holding control logics (C 1 ) for the collecting heights of the left belt, control logics (C 2 ) for the collecting heights of the middle belt and control logics (C 3 ) for the collecting heights of the right belt. During the operation, hydraulic electrovalve (H 1 ) for the left belt, hydraulic electrovalve (H 2 ) for the middle belt and hydraulic electrovalve (H 3 ) for the right belt, on the electri-hydraulic module ( 30 ) activate the trigger (P 1 ) for the left belt, the trigger (P 2 ) for the middle belt and the trigger (P 3 ) for the right belt, on the actuator module ( 40 ), based on the real time measurement of the collecting heights of the belts, obtained by the sensors (S 1  and S 2 ) for the left belt, sensors (S 3  and S 4 ) for the middle belt and sensors (S 5  and S 6 ) for the right belt, on said actuator module ( 40 ), leveling the real collecting heights of the belts with the collecting heights of the belts configured by the user. For that purpose, the collecting height sensors (S 1  and S 2 ), for the left belt, the collecting height sensors (S 3  and S 4 ) for the middle belt and the collecting height sensors (S 5  and S 6 ) for the right belt of the actuator module ( 40 ) constantly communicate to the collecting height control logics (C 1 ), (C 2 ) and (C 3 ) for the left, middle and right belts of the electronic module ( 20 ). 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , including the use of three belts, the electronic soil copying system as presented enables the user (U) to block one or more belts, individually, in pairs or jointly, by indicating on the monitor ( 15 ) which belt(s) will be blocked (B 1 ), (B 2 ) and (B 3 ), which may be, in a first state, the left belt (A 1 ); in a second state, the left (A 1 ) and middle (A 2 ) belts; in a third state, the left (A 1 ) and right (A 3 ) belts; in a fourth state, the middle belt (A 2 ); in a fifth state, the middle (A 2 ) and right (A 3 ) belts; in a sixth state, the right (A 3 ) belt or, in a seventh state, the left (A 1 ), middle (A 2 ) and right (A 3 ) belts, being said indication(s) fed into the electronic module ( 25 ), which actuates the control logics (C 1 ), (C 2 ) and (C 3 ) to block the left, middle and right belts respectively; the electro-hydraulic module ( 35 ) blocking the actuation of the hydraulic electrovalves (H 1 ) and/or (H 2 ) and/or right (H 3 ) for the left and/or middle and/or right belts of 
     The number of states will vary according to the number of belts included in the device.