JPH07184410A - Automatic traveling apparatus for mobile farm machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remarkably decrease the weight of a machine body by unnecessitating the loading of a large-sized winding drum and the operation of winding and housing of a guiding cable in spite of the use of the system to automatically move a machine body following a guiding cable laid on a field and to remarkably improve the traveling stability by eliminating the trouble to excessively vary the lateral balance of the machine body. CONSTITUTION:This automatic traveling apparatus for a mobile farm machine winds and recovers a guiding cable 6 with a recovering apparatus 8 after finishing the guiding work and lays the recovered and wound guiding cable 6 immediately to the next step through a hand 18 of a laying apparatus 14 positioned at a side of the machine body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic traveling device for a mobile agricultural machine such as a tractor, a rice transplanter, a combine, and a management machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a so-called cable guiding system in which a mobile agricultural machine of this type is automatically driven following a guiding cable laid in a field. Since there is a need to lay an induction cable in advance for all the steps, there is a drawback that material costs and construction costs increase. Therefore, it is proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-5413 to eliminate the need for prior cable laying work. That is, this one is constructed so that the induction cable that has been guided is wound and accommodated on one side of the machine body, and at the same time, the induction cable that is accommodated on the other side of the machine body is laid in the next step. is there. However, in this product, it is necessary to dispose a large-scale winding drum capable of winding one stroke of induction cable on each of the left and right sides of the machine body, and the winding drum has a total length of one stroke. Since the induction cable is always wound up and accommodated, there is a disadvantage that the weight of the machine is significantly increased. Moreover, the amount of the induction cable wound and accommodated in the left and right take-up drums varies according to the traveling of the machine. However, this may cause a significant change in the left-right balance of the aircraft, which may reduce driving stability.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was devised with the object of providing an automatic traveling device for a mobile agricultural machine capable of eliminating these drawbacks in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. A mobile agricultural machine that automatically travels following the guide cable laid on the mobile agricultural machine, wherein the mobile agricultural machine has a recovery device for recovering the guide cable after the induction, and the induction cable immediately recovered by the recovery device is immediately adjacent to the next step. And a laying device to be laid in the.
With this configuration, the present invention makes it possible to significantly reduce the weight of the machine body by mounting a large-scale winding drum or winding and accommodating the induction cable and significantly change the left-right balance of the machine body. The inconvenience is eliminated and the running stability can be remarkably improved.

[0004]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a traveling machine body of a tractor, and the traveling machine body 1 has a working unit 3 such as a rotary connected to a rear portion of the machine body via an elevating link mechanism 2.
The operation of the traveling clutch mechanism, the main speed change mechanism, the working unit elevating mechanism, the steering mechanism, the slot mechanism, the PTO clutch mechanism, the side brake (side clutch) mechanism, etc. provided on the traveling machine body 1 is operated by the operator. An unattended operation mechanism is provided.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a machine body guidance sensor disposed at the left and right center position of the machine body front end portion. The machine body guidance sensor 4 is provided with a pair of left and right magnetic sensors 5L, 5R spaced at a predetermined interval. Then, each of the magnetic sensors 5L and 5R is configured to detect the magnetism in the vicinity of the guide cable 6 laid in the field and input the detected value to the control unit 7 described later.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a recovery device disposed at the rear position of the machine body guidance sensor 4, that is, at the center of the bottom of the machine body on the left and right sides. The recovery device 8 has a recovery port 9a and a delivery port 9b on the front and rear surfaces, respectively. Case 9, a drum 10 rotatably mounted in the case 9, a drum rotation motor 11 for rotating the drum 10 in forward and reverse directions, and a drum rotation motor 1
1 and a torque limiter 1 interposed between the drum 10 and the drum 10.
2. The drum rotation motor 13 is configured to rotate the case 9 horizontally to reverse the recovery port 9a and the delivery port 9b. Then, the recovery device 8 winds and recovers the guide cable 6 introduced into the case 9 through the recovery port 9a by one roll by the drum 10 that rotates in synchronization with the vehicle speed, and the guide cable 6 that has been wound and recovered. Immediately, the outlet 9b
However, in the present embodiment, the drum 10 is rotated at a speed (peripheral speed) higher than the vehicle speed. That is, by collecting the guide cable 6 while frequently operating the torque limiter 12, the guide cable 6 can be collected without excessive tension or slack.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a laying device provided at the front end of the machine body. The laying device 14 is a boom 16 erected on a revolving table 15 so as to be swingable, and a boom 16 is swingably provided at a tip end portion of the boom 16. An arm 17 to be connected, a hand 18 and a boom 16 which will be described later and are integrally provided at the tip of the arm 17.
A boom swing motor 19 for horizontally rotating the boom, and a boom cylinder (electric cylinder) 2 for swinging the boom 16
0, an arm cylinder (electric cylinder) 21 for swinging the arm 17, and the like. That is, the laying device 14
Rotates the hand 18 provided at the tip end around the turning table 15 (including the left and right lateral positions and the front position of the machine body) based on the operation of the boom turning motor 19, and based on the operation of the boom cylinder 20. Move up and down,
Further, it can be brought into contact with and separated from the revolving table 15 based on the operation of the arm cylinder 21.

The hand 18 includes a first finger 18a and a second finger 18b arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval.
However, each finger 18a, 18b is provided with a substantially L-shaped movable finger 23 that is opened and closed based on the operation of the finger cylinder 22. That is, the first finger 18a grips the guide cable 6 based on the closing operation of the movable finger 23, inserts and holds the gripped guide cable 6 so that the guide cable 6 can be drawn out, and guides the laying to the next stroke. The holding of the guide cable 6 can be released based on the opening operation of the movable finger 23. The second finger 18b can hold the ring 6a at both ends of the guide cable 6 based on the closing operation of the movable finger 23, and can release the holding of the ring 6a based on the opening operation of the movable finger 23. However, the second finger 18b is further provided with a hand guiding sensor (a pair of magnetic sensors) 25 for guiding the hand 18 following the embedded cable 24 for energization, which will be described later, and an electrode plate 26, which will be described later. An electrode search sensor (single magnetic sensor or proximity sensor) 27 is provided.

By the way, the control unit 7 is constructed by using a so-called micro computer (including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an interface, etc.), which includes the aforementioned body guidance sensor 4 and hand. Inductive sensor 2
5 and the electrode search sensor 27, the vehicle speed sensor 28 for detecting the vehicle speed, the turning angle sensor (gyro etc.) 29 for detecting the turning angle of the machine body, the operating positions of the collecting device 8 and the laying device 14 are detected. A sensor group for detecting the operating position of each unmanned operation mechanism, a receiver 31 for receiving a remote operation signal from the transmitter 30,
Signals are input from the automatic traveling switch 32 for turning on and off the automatic traveling control, the turning direction setting switch 33 for setting the first turning direction, and the recovery device is judged based on these input signals. 7 each actuator, each actuator of the laying device 14, each actuator of the unmanned operation mechanism, and a rotating light 3 provided at an appropriate position of the machine body.
The operation signal is output to the fourth and the like. That is, the control unit 7 has control procedures such as remote operation control for operating and controlling each unmanned operation mechanism according to the content of the remote operation signal, and automatic traveling control for automatically traveling the machine body based on the detection of the machine body guidance sensor 4. It is stored in advance.

On the other hand, the electrode plates 26 are provided at the stroke intervals (or twice the stroke intervals) at both ends of the field where the machine is turning.
There are a plurality of each installed at a distance corresponding to.
And the pile part 26a of each electrode plate 26 embedded in the ground
Is connected to the AC power supply via the energization buried cable 24. Further, the excitation buried cable 35 connected to the AC power supply is coiled around the pile portion 26a of each electrode plate 26. For this reason, each electrode plate 26 also functions as an electromagnet. That is, the electrode plates 26 installed at both ends of the field magnetically attach the rings 6a provided at both ends of the induction cable 6 to each other, and supply an alternating current from the magnetically attached rings 6a to magnetically attach the induction cable 6. Is being generated.

Next, of the above-mentioned respective controls, the control procedure of the automatic traveling control which is the subject matter of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 8 and the operation explanatory diagram shown in FIG. At the beginning, a winding drum (not shown) in which the induction cable 6 for one stroke is wound and accommodated is attached to the front part of the machine body, and the induction cable 6 pulled out from the winding drum is fed to the recovery device 8. After setting, the hand 18 of the laying device 14 located on the next stroke side (second stroke) is set, and further, one end portion (ring 6a) of the guide cable 6 is set.
Is manually magnetically attached to the electrode plate 26 located at the end of the next step (second step). Then, while manipulating the recovery device 8 in the first step while manned running, the guide cable 6 is pulled out from the winding drum, and the drawn guide cable 6 is laid in the next step. After reaching the terminal end, while turning in a manned state, the aircraft is positioned at the start end of the second stroke, and the hand 18 of the laying device 14 is positioned at the next stroke side (third stroke). After the other end (ring 6a) of the cable 6 is manually magnetically attached to the electrode plate 26 located at the end of the next stroke (third stroke), automatic traveling is started by remote control. The winding drum is to be removed before the start of automatic traveling.

In the automatic traveling control, first, the operation of the automatic traveling switch 32 is determined. If the determination is YES, the automatic traveling flag is reversed and the turning direction switch 33 is used to change the turning direction flag. A set process or a reset process is executed, and thereafter, the state of the automatic traveling flag is judged. When the automatic travel flag is in the reset state, the travel clutch O
FF operation, rotation stop operation of the drum 10, O of the rotating light 34
While the automatic traveling end processing such as FF operation is performed, when the automatic traveling flag is in the set state, the automatic traveling start processing such as ON operation of the rotating lamp 34, ON operation of the traveling clutch, and rotation start operation of the drum 10 is performed. After that, the automatic direction control defined as a subroutine is executed. That is, the guide cable 6 laid along the work process
Of the left and right magnetic sensors 5L, 5L of the body guidance sensor 4
By detecting each by R and controlling the operation of the steering unmanned operation mechanism so as to match both detection values, the machine body will automatically run following the guide cable 6, but during execution of the automatic direction control, As shown in 9 (1), the guide cable 6 which has been guided is wound and collected by the collecting device 8, and the wound and collected guide cable 6 is immediately removed from the hand 18 of the laying device 14 located on the side of the machine body. It will be laid in the next step.

Further, during execution of the automatic direction control, it is always determined whether or not the body guidance sensor 4 is in a magnetic non-detection state. If the determination is YES, the magnetic field undetected flag is set, and then the vehicle body travels straight for a predetermined distance, but the vehicle body guidance sensor 4 does not re-detect the magnetism until the vehicle travels the predetermined distance. In this case, it is determined that the vehicle has deviated from the guide cable 6 and the automatic traveling flag is reset, and the automatic traveling ending process is executed based on the flag reset. On the other hand, when the airframe guidance sensor 4 re-detects magnetism before traveling the predetermined distance, it is judged that it is a temporary deviation and the direction automatic control is restarted. In the meantime, when the hand induction sensor 25 provided in the hand 18 detects the magnetism of the embedded cable 24 for energization or the electrode plate 26, the machine body goes beyond the position of FIG. 9 (2) and is shown in FIG. 9 (3). When it is determined that the turning start position has been reached, reset processing of the magnetic non-detection flag, turning flag setting processing, and rotation stop operation of the drum 10 are executed.

When the turning flag is set, the turning direction is judged based on the turning direction flag. If the judgment is left turning, as shown in FIG.
°) to start. Then, at the same time when the turning is started, the first finger 18a of the hand 18 is opened to separate the guide cable 6 and the recovery device 8 is rotated clockwise by 90 °.
Although it is rotated, as shown in FIG. 9 (5), the hand 18 is moved to the recovery device 8 while the second finger 18b is opened, and then the ring 6 locked by the recovery device 8 is moved.
The second finger 18b (movable finger 23) is inserted into a and the second finger 18b is closed to close the ring 6
After gripping a, and further pulling out the guide cable 6 based on the movement of the hand 18, the first finger 18
a and close the end of the guide cable 6 to the first finger 18
It is adapted to be held in a state of being inserted into a.

When the machine makes a left turn to a predetermined turning angle θ, the traveling clutch is turned off to temporarily stop the machine traveling. In this state, the hand 18 is moved while rotating the drum 10 to guide the guide cable. 6 is pulled out, and the position of the embedded cable 24 for energization is detected based on the magnetic detection of the hand guiding sensor 25.
Then, after detecting the position of the embedded cable 24 for energization, while guiding the hand 18 along the embedded cable 24 for energization based on the magnetic detection of the hand guiding sensor 25, the electrode search sensor 27 terminates the fourth stroke. The electrode plate 26 located at is searched.

Then, as shown in FIG. 9 (6), the electrode plate 2
When the position of No. 6 is detected, the second finger 18b is opened and the ring 6a is magnetically attached to the electrode plate 26, and then the traveling clutch is turned ON and the rotation start operation of the drum 10 is performed to turn the aircraft to the left (180 ° -θ °) is restarted. When the left turn is completed, the recovery device 8 is rotated clockwise by 90 ° as shown in FIG. 9 (7), and the turning direction flag reversing process and the turning flag resetting process are executed. ), The automatic traveling of the next stroke (third stroke) is started following the guide cable 6 laid in the previous stroke (second stroke), and the control procedure described above is repeated for each stroke. It is designed to automatically drive the entire area.

In the embodiment of the present invention constructed as described above, the traveling machine body 1 detects the magnetism of the induction cable 6 laid along the work process by the left and right magnetic sensors 5L, 5R of the machine body induction sensor 4, respectively. At the same time, by operating and controlling the steering unmanned operation mechanism so as to make both detection values coincide with each other, the vehicle automatically travels following the guide cable 6. However, when the vehicle automatically travels, the guide cable 6 that has been guided is recovered. A laying device 14 that winds and collects the device 8 and guides the wound and collected guide cable 6 to the side of the machine body.
It will be immediately laid in the next step via the hand 18. That is, the guide cable 6 that has been guided is wound and accommodated on one side of the machine body, and at the same time, the guide cable 6 that is wound and accommodated on the other side of the machine body is laid in the next step. In addition, one guide cable 6 each
It is not necessary to dispose a large-scale winding drum that can wind up the coil, and the induction cable 6 is always wound and accommodated in the winding drum.
There is no inconvenience of receiving the load, and as a result, the weight of the machine body can be significantly reduced and the traveling performance of the machine body can be remarkably improved.

Moreover, since it is possible to completely eliminate the inconvenience that the left and right balance of the machine body is lost due to the change in the weight of the induction cable 6 which is wound and accommodated in the winding drum, the running stability is remarkably improved and extended. Can greatly contribute to the improvement of working accuracy.

Further, since only one induction cable 6 having a length of about one stroke is used, the cost is lower than that of the conventional cable which requires two strokes of the induction cable 6. Be advantageous.

Further, in the recovery device 8, the drum 10
Is rotated faster than the vehicle speed, and the speed difference is absorbed by the torque limiter 12, so that the recovery speed of the induction cable 6 can be accurately matched to the vehicle speed, and as a result, there is no excessive tension or looseness. With induction cable 6
Can be recovered.

Further, since both ends of the guide cable 6 are magnetically attached to the electrode plates 26 installed at both ends of the field, the guide cable 6 is driven by driving a pile every turn.
It is not necessary to additionally provide a complicated device such as a pile driving device such as a device for locking the ends of the pile, and it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the pile is pulled out and the work is interrupted.

Furthermore, in magnetizing the end portion of the induction cable 6 to the electrode plate 26, the magnetizing operation is performed by the second finger 18b provided in the laying device 14 for laying the induction cable 6. Since this is done, the laying device 14 can also be used in common, contributing to a reduction in the number of parts and a simplification of the structure.

[0023]

In summary, since the present invention is configured as described above, while the mobile agricultural machine automatically travels following the guide cable laid in the field, the mobile agricultural machine is not guided. At the same time as collecting the guided cable, the collected guiding cable is immediately laid in the adjacent next step. In other words, since the collected induction cable is not wound and housed, it is not necessary to install a particularly large take-up drum on the left and right sides of the machine like the case where the induction cable is wound and housed on the left and right sides of the machine. Without receiving the load of the induction cable housed in
As a result, it is possible to significantly reduce the weight of the machine body and significantly improve the traveling performance. Moreover, since the left-right balance of the machine body is not lost due to the change in the weight of the induction cable wound around the winding drum, the running stability can be significantly improved and the work accuracy can be greatly improved. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a field.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an electrode plate.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the tractor showing an operation of the laying device during automatic traveling.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the operation of the laying device during turning.

5A is a cross-sectional view of the recovery device, and FIG. 5B is a vertical cross-sectional view.

FIG. 6A is a side view of a main part of the laying device, and FIG. 6B is a perspective view.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the automatic traveling device.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of automatic traveling control.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing an operation procedure at the time of turning.

10 is a perspective view showing a turning stroke of FIG. 9. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Traveling Aircraft 4 Airframe Induction Sensor 6 Induction Cable 7 Control Unit 8 Recovery Device 14 Laying Device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Ikuo Hosokawa Inoue Town, Izumo Town, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture 667 Izaiya-cho, Izamachi 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (72) Masaoka Matsuoka Izumo Town, Izumo-cho, Shimane Prefecture 667 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (72) Hirosaki Yamazaki, Inventor Hirosaki Higashi Izumo, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture Izayacho 667 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (72) Masahiro Kuwagaki, Izumo, Higashi-Izumo, Shimane Prefecture 667-cho 1 Mitsubishi agricultural machinery Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mobile agricultural machine that automatically travels following a guide cable laid in a field, wherein the mobile agricultural machine collects a guide cable that has been guided, and a guide cable collected by the collecting apparatus. And an laying device for immediately laying in the next process.