Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
crop were obtained from a monochrome camera mounted directly above the head of
the combine (see Figure 5.9). The camera was used as a primary sensor for guidance
as opposed to more traditional GNSS.
Researchers developed a grain loss sensor (Figure 5.10) using a polyvinylidene
fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectricity film (Xu and Li, 2010). The film works on the prin-
ciple of piezoelectric effect. When a PVDF membrane is subjected to external force,
a charge is developed on both sides of the membrane. The amount of charge indicates
the extent pressure applied on the membrane. In laboratory experiments the sensor
had a detection error of less than 5.7%, whereas a measurement error of 8.0% was
reported in the field experiments.
Another recent development by New Holland is the Opti-Clean™ cleaning shoe,
which attempts to maximize the sieve stroke and throwing angles to further improve
cleaning efficiency (New Holland, 2010a). The Grain Cam™ system from New
Holland also seeks to improve harvester efficiency by providing an on-the-go analy-
sis of grain quality that allows the operator to make adjustments to the harvester to
reduce foreign material and broken grain (New Holland, 2010b).
High protein content pertains to high-quality grain. To determine the protein con-
tent of the grain on the go, an optical sensor with near-infrared (NIR) transmission
and NIR was placed in stream (Figure 5.11) on a late model combine harvester (Long
et al., 1997). Milestone Technology, Inc. (Blackfoot, ID, USA) is developing a Grain
Quality Monitor (GQM) that can be placed in the grain stream of a harvester for protein
sensing. The common thread among the technologies discussed here is that they seek
to improve overall harvesting efficiency while reducing the need for operator control.
Cut
crop
Uncut
crop
Maize crop
Camera
field of
view
Head
Camera
Combined
harvester
FIGURE 5.9
Machine vision based guidance for grain harvesters. (Benson, E.R. et al.,
Trans. ASE,
46, 1255-1264, 2003. With permission.)
