Patent Description:
An agricultural harvester known as a "combine" is historically termed such because it combines multiple harvesting functions with a single harvesting unit, such as picking, threshing, separating, and cleaning. A combine includes a header which removes the crop from a field, and a feeder housing which transports the crop matter into a threshing rotor. The threshing rotor rotates within a perforated housing, which may be in the form of adjustable concaves, and performs a threshing operation on the crop to remove the grain. Once the grain is threshed it falls through perforations in the concaves onto a grain pan or auger bed. From the grain pan the grain is cleaned using a cleaning system, and is then transported to a grain tank onboard the combine. A cleaning fan blows air through the sieves to discharge chaff and other debris toward the rear of the combine. Non-grain crop material such as straw from the threshing section proceeds through a residue handling system, which may utilize a straw chopper to process the non-grain material and direct it out the rear of the combine. When the grain tank becomes full, the combine is positioned adjacent a vehicle into which the grain is to be unloaded, such as a semi-trailer, gravity box, straight truck, or the like, and an unloading system on the combine is actuated to transfer the grain into the vehicle.

More particularly, a rotary threshing or separation system includes one or more rotors that can extend axially (front to rear) or transversely (side to side) within the body of the combine, and which are partially or fully surrounded by perforated concaves. The crop material is threshed and separated by the rotation of the rotor within the concaves. Coarser non-grain crop material such as stalks and leaves pass through a straw beater to remove any remaining grains, and then are transported to the rear of the combine and discharged back to the field. The separated grain, together with some finer non-grain crop material such as chaff, dust, straw, and other crop residue are discharged through the concaves and fall onto a grain pan or auger bed where they are transported to a cleaning system. Alternatively, the grain and finer non-grain crop material may also fall directly onto the cleaning system itself.

A cleaning system further separates the grain from non-grain crop material, and typically includes a fan directing an airflow stream upwardly and rearwardly through vertically arranged sieves which oscillate in a fore and aft manner. The airflow stream lifts and carries the lighter non-grain crop material towards the rear end of the combine for discharge to the field. Clean grain, being heavier, and larger pieces of non-grain crop material, which are not carried away by the airflow stream, fall onto a surface of an upper sieve (also known as a chaffer sieve), where some or all of the clean grain passes through to a lower sieve (also known as a cleaning sieve). Grain and non-grain crop material remaining on the upper and lower sieves are physically separated by the reciprocating action of the sieves as the material moves rearwardly. Any grain and/or non-grain crop material which passes through the upper sieve, but does not pass through the lower sieve, is directed to a tailings pan. Grain falling through the lower sieve lands on a bottom pan of the cleaning system, where it is conveyed forwardly toward a clean grain auger. The clean grain auger conveys the grain to a grain elevator, which transports the grain upwards to a grain tank for temporary storage. The grain accumulates to the point where the grain tank is full and is discharged to an adjacent vehicle such as a semi trailer, gravity box, straight truck or the like by an unloading system on the combine that is actuated to transfer grain into the vehicle.

It is known that crop collection and handling performance is affected by the moisture content of the collected crop material. Wet crop material, for example, is heavier and requires more power to process than dry crop material. Various ways of measuring crop moisture content have been developed, but the effects of differing crop moisture content, especially within a single field, on machine performance still have not been adequately addressed.

What is needed in the art is an agricultural harvester than can address at least some of the previously described issues with known agricultural harvesters.

Patent publication document <CIT> discloses a system for detecting an operating state of a work machine, comprising at least two sensors for sensing parameters affecting an operation state of the machine and an operating state evaluation circuit having an output for an operating state signal value. The operating state evaluation circuit determines the operating state signal value based upon fused signals from the sensors and a sensor reliability signal from a weighing function evaluator. One of the sensors may be a moisture sensor mounted on the feeder of a combine harvester.

Patent publication document <CIT> discloses a header for a combine harvester. The header includes an auger for directing the movement of harvested grain toward a feederhouse of the combine harvester and an adjustable hood positioned above the auger and moveable between a lowered position, a raised position and an intermediate position. The header may comprise multiple moisture sensors mounted at various locations. The position of the hood may be controlled based on the determined moisture levels.

Patent publication document <CIT> discloses a system and method for remote control of an adjustable threshing cage vane, for improving threshing performance and other operating parameters. The remote control is responsive to one or more monitored operating parameters, such as grain loss, grain flow, ground speed, and/or throughput.

Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein provide an agricultural harvester with a controller that determines a moisture level of crop material headed for a threshing and separation system and outputs an adjustment signal to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system based at least partially on the determined moisture level.

According to the present invention, an agricultural harvester includes: a chassis; a threshing and separation system including at least one concave carried by the chassis, the threshing and separation system being configured to thresh and separate a flow of crop material; and a controller carried by the chassis. The controller is configured to: operably couple to one or more moisture sensors disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system, relative to the flow of crop material; determine a moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system; and output an adjustment signal to at least one component of the agricultural harvester to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system based at least partially on the determined moisture level. At least one of said one or more moisture sensors is mounted on a header carried by the chassis and configured to cut crop material from a field.

Also according to the present invention, a method of adjusting threshing and separation performance of a threshing and separation system of an agricultural harvester is provided. The method is performed by a controller coupled to one or more moisture sensors and includes: determining one or more moisture levels of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system; and outputting an adjustment signal to at least one component of the agricultural harvester to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system based at least partially on a moisture level determined by a moisture sensor that is part of the header of the agricultural harvester.

One possible advantage that may be realized by the present invention is that performance of the threshing and separation system can be proactively adjusted prior to processing crop material of differing moisture levels.

Another possible advantage that may be realized by the present invention is that output of an engine of the harvester can be increased in anticipation of processing wet crop material so the threshing and separation system does not get overwhelmed during processing.

The terms "grain", "straw" and "tailings" are used principally throughout this specification for convenience but it is to be understood that these terms are not intended to be limiting. Thus "grain" refers to that part of the crop material which is threshed and separated from the discardable part of the crop material, which is referred to as non-grain crop material, MOG or straw. Incompletely threshed crop material is referred to as "tailings". Also, the terms "forward", "rearward", "left" and "right", when used in connection with the agricultural harvester and/or components thereof are usually determined with reference to the direction of forward operative travel of the harvester, but again, they should not be construed as limiting. The terms "longitudinal" and "transverse" are determined with reference to the fore-and-aft direction of the agricultural harvester and are equally not to be construed as limiting. The terms "downstream" and "upstream" are determined with reference to the intended direction of crop material flow during operation, with "downstream" being analogous to "rearward" and "upstream" being analogous to "forward.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to <FIG>, there is shown an embodiment of an agricultural harvester <NUM> in the form of a combine which generally includes a chassis <NUM>, ground engaging wheels <NUM> and <NUM>, header <NUM>, feeder housing <NUM>, operator cab <NUM>, threshing and separation system <NUM>, cleaning system <NUM>, grain tank <NUM>, and unloading conveyance <NUM>. Front wheels <NUM> are larger flotation type wheels, and rear wheels <NUM> are smaller steerable wheels. Motive force is selectively applied to front wheels <NUM> through a power plant in the form of a diesel engine <NUM> and a transmission (not shown). Although combine <NUM> is shown as including wheels, is also to be understood that combine <NUM> may include tracks, such as full tracks or half tracks.

Header <NUM> is mounted to the front of combine <NUM> and includes a cutter bar <NUM> for severing crops from a field during forward motion of combine <NUM>. A rotatable reel <NUM> feeds the crop into header <NUM>, and a double auger <NUM> feeds the severed crop laterally inwardly from each side toward feeder house <NUM>. Feeder house <NUM> feeds the cut crop to threshing and separation system <NUM>, and is selectively vertically movable using appropriate actuators, such as hydraulic cylinders (not shown).

Threshing and separation system <NUM> is of the axial-flow type, and generally includes a threshing rotor <NUM> at least partially enclosed by a rotor cage and rotatable within a corresponding perforated concave <NUM>. The cut crops are threshed and separated by the rotation of rotor <NUM> within concave <NUM>, and larger elements, such as stalks, leaves and the like are discharged from the rear of combine <NUM>. Smaller elements of crop material including grain and non-grain crop material, including particles lighter than grain, such as chaff, dust and straw, are discharged through perforations of concave <NUM>. Threshing and separation system <NUM> can also be a different type of system, such as a system with a transverse rotor rather than an axial rotor, etc. The threshing and separation system <NUM> is configured to thresh and separate a flow of crop material, indicated by arrow CM, that flows to the threshing and separation system <NUM> from the feeder house <NUM>.

Grain which has been separated by the threshing and separation system <NUM> falls onto a grain pan <NUM> and is conveyed toward cleaning system <NUM>. Cleaning system <NUM> may include an optional pre-cleaning sieve <NUM>, an upper sieve <NUM> (also known as a chaffer sieve or sieve assembly), a lower sieve <NUM> (also known as a cleaning sieve), and a cleaning fan <NUM>. Grain on sieves <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> is subjected to a cleaning action by fan <NUM> which provides an air flow through the sieves to remove chaff and other impurities such as dust from the grain by making this material airborne for discharge from a straw hood <NUM> of a residue management system <NUM> of combine <NUM>. Optionally, the chaff and/or straw can proceed through a chopper <NUM> to be further processed into even smaller particles before discharge out of the combine <NUM> by a spreader assembly <NUM>. It should be appreciated that the "chopper" <NUM> referenced herein, which may include knives, may also be what is typically referred to as a "beater", which may include flails, or other construction and that the term "chopper" as used herein refers to any construction which can reduce the particle size of entering crop material by various actions including chopping, flailing, etc. Grain pan <NUM> and pre-cleaning sieve <NUM> oscillate in a fore-to-aft manner to transport the grain and finer non-grain crop material to the upper surface of upper sieve <NUM>. Upper sieve <NUM> and lower sieve <NUM> are vertically arranged relative to each other, and likewise oscillate in a fore-to-aft manner to spread the grain across sieves <NUM>, <NUM>, while permitting the passage of cleaned grain by gravity through the openings of sieves <NUM>, <NUM>.

Clean grain falls to a clean grain auger <NUM> positioned crosswise below and toward the front of lower sieve <NUM>. Clean grain auger <NUM> receives clean grain from each sieve <NUM>, <NUM> and from a bottom pan <NUM> of cleaning system <NUM>. Clean grain auger <NUM> conveys the clean grain laterally to a generally vertically arranged grain elevator <NUM> for transport to grain tank <NUM>. Tailings from cleaning system <NUM> fall to a tailings auger trough <NUM>. The tailings are transported via tailings auger <NUM> and return auger <NUM> to the upstream end of cleaning system <NUM> for repeated cleaning action. A pair of grain tank augers <NUM> at the bottom of grain tank <NUM> convey the clean grain laterally within grain tank <NUM> to unloader <NUM> for discharge from combine <NUM>.

In known combine harvesters, various operating aspects of the harvester are affected by the moisture level of the collected crop material. The threshing and separation system is one of the systems particularly affected by the moisture level of collected crop material because it is where the collected crop material is initially processed to separate the grain from the MOG. Known harvesters determine the moisture level of the collected crop material just prior to entering the grain tank. However, such measurements do not allow changes to be made to various systems of the harvester to assist in handling crop material with varying moisture levels. This can lead to excessive power usage or a slow down in processing because not enough power is provided to, for example, the threshing and separation system.

To address some of the previously described issues, and referring still to <FIG>, the agricultural harvester <NUM> includes a controller <NUM> that is carried by the chassis <NUM>. The controller <NUM> is configured to operably couple to a moisture sensor, such as a moisture sensor <NUM> of the feeder house <NUM> and/or a moisture sensor <NUM> of the header <NUM>, that is disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system <NUM>, relative to the flow of crop material CM. In other words, the flow of crop material CM headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> passes the moisture sensor <NUM>, <NUM> first. Operably coupling the controller <NUM> to the moisture sensor <NUM>, <NUM> allows the controller <NUM> to determine a moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> and output an adjustment signal to at least one component of the agricultural harvester <NUM> to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> based at least partially on the determined moisture level, as will be described further herein.

It should be appreciated that the moisture sensor disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system <NUM> may be disposed in a variety of places. When the moisture sensor <NUM> is disposed in the feeder house <NUM>, the moisture sensor <NUM> may be disposed, for example, on a floor <NUM> of the feeder house <NUM>. According to the invention, at least one moisture sensor <NUM> disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system <NUM> is a part of the header <NUM>. Since many headers are removably mountable, the controller <NUM> may be configured to operably couple to a moisture sensor directly or indirectly via a connection interface. The controller <NUM> may be, for example, part of an ISOBUS system of the harvester <NUM> that couples to a connector of the moisture sensor <NUM>, <NUM> to operably couple the moisture sensor <NUM>, <NUM> to the controller <NUM>. It should thus be appreciated that, the controller <NUM> is configured to operably couple to a moisture sensor disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system <NUM>, such as the moisture sensor <NUM> of the header <NUM>, but is not operably coupled to the moisture sensor <NUM> until the header <NUM> is installed on the harvester <NUM>. In some embodiments, the controller <NUM> is configured to operably couple, or is operably coupled, to multiple moisture sensors <NUM>, <NUM> to determine moisture levels of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> at multiple locations within the harvester <NUM>.

The adjustment signal may be output by the controller <NUM> to a variety of different components of the harvester <NUM> to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. It should be appreciated that the following examples illustrate how the controller <NUM> may output the adjustment signal to a few different components of the harvester <NUM> in order to adjust the performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>, but is not exhaustive, i.e., the adjustment signal may be output to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> in other ways.

In some embodiments, the threshing and separation system <NUM> includes a rotor cage <NUM> with one or more adjustable vanes <NUM> disposed on an interior of the rotor cage <NUM>. As is known, vanes <NUM> of the rotor cage <NUM> help direct crop material toward a rear of the rotor <NUM> during rotation of the rotor <NUM>. The adjustable vanes <NUM> may be coupled to one or more vane actuators <NUM> that are configured to adjust a vane pitch of the adjustable vane(s) <NUM>, as is known. The controller <NUM> may be operably coupled to the vane actuator(s) <NUM> and configured to output the adjustment signal to the vane actuator(s) <NUM> to adjust the vane pitch of the adjustable vane(s) <NUM> based at least partially on the determined moisture level and adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>.

For example, the controller <NUM> may be configured to determine the moisture level and output the adjustment signal to the vane actuator(s) <NUM> to adjust the vane pitch of one or more adjustable vanes <NUM> to a defined value for the determined moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>. At higher determined moisture levels of the crop material, the adjustment signal may cause the vane actuator(s) <NUM> to adjust the vane pitch of the adjustable vane(s) <NUM> to promote faster travel of the crop material through the rotor cage <NUM>. Similarly, at lower determined moisture levels of the crop material, the adjustment signal may cause the vane actuator(s) <NUM> to adjust the vane pitch of the adjustable vane(s) to promote slower travel of the crop material through the rotor cage <NUM>. In either case, the vane pitch can be adjusted prior to the wet or dry crop material reaching the threshing and separation system <NUM> so the crop material is processed by the threshing and separation system <NUM> in a manner that promotes an efficient combination of throughput, grain savings, and power consumption. In some embodiments, the controller <NUM> is configured to determine the moisture level as an average moisture level, rather than an instantaneous moisture level, and outputs the adjustment signal based on the determined average moisture level.

In some embodiments, the threshing and separation system <NUM> includes a rotor drive <NUM> that is operably coupled to the rotor <NUM> and the controller <NUM> and configured to rotate the rotor <NUM> at a rotational speed. The rotor drive <NUM> may be, for example, an adjustable motor or linkage that transmits rotational energy to the rotor <NUM> in order to rotate the rotor <NUM> at varying rotational speeds. The controller <NUM> may be configured to output the adjustment signal to the rotor drive <NUM> to adjust the rotational speed of the rotor <NUM> based at least partially on the determined moisture level and adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. For example, it is known that wet crop material has a higher mass that requires additional power to move. The higher mass of wet crop material can also significantly slow down the rotational speed of the rotor <NUM> if the rotor <NUM> does not have a high enough momentum to initially move the wet crop material. Thus, in some embodiments, the adjustment signal output by the controller <NUM> to the rotor drive <NUM> may cause the rotor drive <NUM> to rotate the rotor <NUM> at a defined rotational speed for the determined moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>, e.g., at higher determined moisture levels, the rotor drive <NUM> may rotate the rotor <NUM> at increased rotational speeds to account for the increased mass of the wet crop. When the controller <NUM> determines that the moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> decreases, the controller <NUM> can output the adjustment signal to the rotor drive <NUM> to rotate the rotor <NUM> at decreased rotational speeds to avoid excess power consumption and/or grain damage that may occur due to needlessly rotating the rotor <NUM>, and thus the relatively dry crop material, at higher speeds. In either case, the rotational speed of the rotor <NUM> can be adjusted prior to the wet or dry crop material reaching the threshing and separation system <NUM> so the crop material is processed by the threshing and separation system <NUM> in a manner that promotes an efficient combination of throughput, grain savings, and power consumption.

In some embodiments, the threshing and separation system <NUM> includes at least one actuator <NUM> that is operably coupled to the rotor <NUM> and/or the concave <NUM>. As is known, the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM> define a clearance therebetween, which can control the aggressiveness of threshing and separation. The actuator(s) <NUM> may be operably coupled to the controller <NUM> and the controller <NUM> may be configured to output the adjustment signal to the at least one actuator <NUM> to adjust the clearance between the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM> based at least partially on the determined moisture level and adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. For example, when the determined moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> is higher, the controller <NUM> may be configured to output the adjustment signal to the at least one actuator <NUM> to increase the clearance between the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM>, decreasing the power requirements. Similarly, when the determined moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> is lower, the controller <NUM> may be configured to output the adjustment signal to the at least one actuator <NUM> to decrease the clearance between the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM>, which generally increases power consumption but can also provide a more complete thresh and separation for dry crop material. Thus, it should be appreciated that the controller <NUM> may be configured to adjust the clearance between the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM> in a variety of ways, depending on the moisture level of the crop material.

In some embodiments, the controller <NUM> is operatively coupled to the engine <NUM>. The controller <NUM> may be configured to output the adjustment signal to the engine <NUM> to adjust a power output based at least partially on the determined moisture level and adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. For example, the controller <NUM> may be configured to output an adjustment signal to the engine <NUM> that causes the engine <NUM> to increase power output when the controller <NUM> determines that wet crop material is headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>. Since wet crop material generally requires greater amounts of power to process, the engine <NUM> increasing the power output, which can then be made available to the threshing and separation system <NUM>, prior to wet crop material reaching the threshing and separation system <NUM> ensures that the threshing and separation system <NUM> has adequate power available to efficiently thresh and separate the wet crop material. After the controller <NUM> determines that the moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> has decreased, the controller <NUM> can output another adjustment signal to the engine <NUM> to reduce the power output to avoid wasting fuel by providing excess power that will not be used by the harvester <NUM>. Thus, the controller <NUM> can adjust the power output of the engine <NUM>, depending on moisture levels of the crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>, to provide efficient combinations of throughput and power consumption.

It should be appreciated that the controller <NUM> may be configured to output an adjustment signal to multiple components of the harvester <NUM> to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. For example, the controller <NUM> may be configured to output a respective adjustment signal to the vane actuator <NUM> and the engine <NUM> to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. The controller <NUM> may also output other combinations of adjustment signals to respective components, depending on how performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> is to be adjusted. Thus, the controller <NUM> provided according to the present disclosure can adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> in a wide variety of ways.

In some embodiments, the harvester <NUM> further includes a crop intake sensor <NUM> disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system <NUM>, relative to the flow of crop material CM. The controller <NUM> may be configured to determine an amount of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> via the crop intake sensor <NUM> so the controller <NUM> not only determines the moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>, but also the amount of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>. The controller <NUM> may thus also determine the appropriate adjustment(s) to make by taking the amount of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> into account. In some embodiments, the controller <NUM> may be configured to determine what component(s) of the harvester <NUM> to output the adjustment signal to and what adjustment(s) should be made based on the moisture level of the crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM> and determine a magnitude of the adjustment(s) based on the amount of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>. It should thus be appreciated that the controller <NUM> can be configured to output the adjustment signal based on a variety of parameters of the crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>.

From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the controller <NUM> provided according to the present disclosure allows adjustment of one or more components of the harvester <NUM> to proactively adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. Proactive adjustment of the performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> can improve throughput, grain savings, and power consumption by adjusting the performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> to handle crop material that is heading toward the system <NUM>. This is in contrast to known systems, which do not measure crop material moisture to adjust the performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM>. In this respect, the controller <NUM> provided according to the present disclosure can adjust the harvester <NUM> to best process collected crop material before the collected crop material reaches the first major area of processing, i.e., the threshing and separation system <NUM>. Thus, the harvester <NUM> with the controller <NUM> provided according to the present disclosure is well-suited to automatically account for different harvesting conditions and improve harvesting and power consumption efficiency.

In some exemplary embodiments, and referring now to <FIG>, a method <NUM> of adjusting threshing and separation performance of a threshing and separation system <NUM> of an agricultural harvester <NUM> is provided according to the present disclosure. The method is performed by a controller <NUM> coupled to a moisture sensor <NUM>, <NUM> and includes determining <NUM> a moisture level of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system <NUM>. The controller <NUM> outputs <NUM> an adjustment signal to at least one component of the agricultural harvester <NUM> to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> based at least partially on the determined moisture level. In some embodiments, the harvester <NUM> includes a feeder house <NUM> with the moisture sensor <NUM> disposed therein, e.g., on a floor <NUM> of the feeder house. In addition, the harvester <NUM> includes a header <NUM> with the moisture sensor <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the output adjustment signal adjusts a vane pitch of at least one adjustable vane <NUM> on an interior of a rotor cage <NUM>. The adjustment signal may be output, for example, to a vane actuator <NUM> that is coupled to the adjustable vane(s) <NUM> and configured to adjust the vane pitch of the adjustable vane <NUM>, as previously described. In some embodiments, the output adjustment signal adjusts a rotational speed of a rotor <NUM>. The adjustment signal may be output, for example, to a rotor drive <NUM> that is configured to rotate the rotor <NUM> at the rotational speed, as previously described. In some embodiments, the output adjustment signal adjusts a clearance between the rotor <NUM> and a concave <NUM>. The adjustment signal may be output, for example, to an actuator <NUM> that is coupled to the rotor <NUM> and/or the concave <NUM> and configured to adjust the clearance between the rotor <NUM> and the concave <NUM>, as previously described. In some embodiments, the output adjustment signal adjusts a power output of an engine <NUM> of the harvester <NUM>, as previously described. It should thus be appreciated that outputting <NUM> the adjustment signal may adjust performance of the threshing and separation system <NUM> in a wide variety of ways.

It is to be understood that the steps of the method <NUM> are performed by the controller <NUM> upon loading and executing software code or instructions which are tangibly stored on a tangible computer readable medium, such as on a magnetic medium, e.g., a computer hard drive, an optical medium, e.g., an optical disc, solid-state memory, e.g., flash memory, or other storage media known in the art. Thus, any of the functionality performed by the controller <NUM> described herein, such as the method <NUM>, is implemented in software code or instructions which are tangibly stored on a tangible computer readable medium. The controller <NUM> loads the software code or instructions via a direct interface with the computer readable medium or via a wired and/or wireless network. Upon loading and executing such software code or instructions by the controller <NUM>, the controller <NUM> may perform any of the functionality of the controller <NUM> described herein, including any steps of the method <NUM> described herein.

Claim 1:
An agricultural harvester (<NUM>), comprising:
a chassis (<NUM>);
a threshing and separation system (<NUM>) comprising at least one concave (<NUM>) carried by the chassis (<NUM>), the threshing and separation system (<NUM>) being configured to thresh and separate a flow of crop material (CM); and
a controller (<NUM>) carried by the chassis (<NUM>);
a header (<NUM>) carried by the chassis (<NUM>) and configured to cut crop material from a field,
wherein the controller (<NUM>) is configured to:
operably couple to one or more moisture sensors (<NUM>, <NUM>) disposed upstream of the threshing and separation system (<NUM>), relative to the flow of crop material (CM);
determine one or more moisture levels of crop material headed for the threshing and separation system (<NUM>); and
output an adjustment signal to at least one component (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) of the agricultural harvester (<NUM>) to adjust performance of the threshing and separation system (<NUM>) based at least partially on the determined one or more moisture levels,
characterized in that the header (<NUM>) comprises at least one of said moisture sensors (<NUM>) that is operably coupled to the controller (<NUM>).