A system for detecting a condition indicative of onset of plugging or actual plugging of a discharge of an agricultural combine, utilizing a pressure sensor disposed at a location within the combine spaced from the discharge and operable for sensing an air pressure condition relating to a flow indicative of a reduced crop residue flow condition toward or in the discharge.

A cleaning system for an agricultural harvester includes: at least one sieve; a cleaning blower directed at the at least one sieve and configured to supply a cleaning air flow directed at the at least one sieve; and a conveyor assembly configured to supply crop material to the at least one sieve. The conveyor assembly includes: a conveyor frame; a shaker coupled to the conveyor frame and configured to shake the conveyor frame; and an endless conveyor carried by the conveyor frame and including a conveyor loop with a substantially solid surface and a conveyor driver coupled to the conveyor loop, the conveyor driver being configured to selectively rotate the conveyor loop.

An agricultural harvester includes a frame and a crop cleaning assembly supported on the frame. The crop cleaning assembly, in turn, includes an oscillating component configured to oscillate relative to the frame in a manner that conveys crop material across the oscillating component. Furthermore, the agricultural harvester includes a RADAR sensor configured to emit an output signal directed at the crop material present on the oscillating component and detect an echo signal reflected by the crop material present on the oscillating component. Additionally, the agricultural harvester includes a computing system communicatively coupled to the RADAR sensor. In this respect, the computing system is configured to determine a thickness of the crop material present on the oscillating component based on detected echo signal.

A system for leveling grain on a return pan (128) of an agricultural combine (102), including a plurality of sensors (S1, S2, S3) coupled to the return pan (128) to detect a quantity of grain on the return pan (128) at a corresponding plurality of locations; a plurality of grain steering devices (156, 158) disposed on the return pan (128) to steer grain sliding down the return pan (128); and at least one ECU (192) coupled to the plurality of sensors (S1, S2, S3) and to the plurality of grain steering devices (156, 158); wherein the at least one ECU (192) is programmed to read the plurality of sensors (S1, S2, S3), to determine a side-to-side (lateral) distribution of grain on the return pan (128), to calculate a preferred position of the grain steering devices (156, 158) that will more evenly distribute the grain on the return pan (128), and to command an actuator coupled to the grain steering devices (156, 158) to steer them to the preferred position.

A grain cleaning system for a combine harvester having a transmitter adapted to transmit a base signal at a known frequency and one or more spaced receivers for detecting signals of a different frequency as reflected from airborne grain and other materials within the duct of the grain cleaning system. An Electronic Control Unit modulates the base signal and the reflected signals to obtain Doppler signals or frequencies from which an average particle velocity is determined. The particle velocity is used as an input parameter for the generation of control signals for the adjustment of various working units of the combine harvester including, by way of example, the fan and sieves.

An impact sensor is mounted in a duct of a grain cleaning system above an upper sieve. The impact sensor has an upstream-facing impact-sensing surface with respect to a cleaning airstream, and is configured to transduce impact events and generate impact signals therefrom. An electronic control unit (ECU) is configured to generate control signals based upon a particle energy value that is determined from the impact signals. The control signals may serve to adjust various working units of a combine harvester including, by way of example, a cleaning fan and sieves.

A harvesting vehicle including a cleaning section including a blower and at least one sieve. The sieve is configured to transport a layer comprising a mixture of grain kernels and residue material towards an exit edge of the sieve so that kernels fall through openings of the sieve and the residue remains on the sieve until it is ejected from the sieve by crossing the exit edge. The sieve may be subject to a grain loss, including a sieve-off loss and a blowout loss. The cleaning section further includes a sensor configured to determine whether the blowout loss or the sieve-off loss is a highest contributor to the grain loss. The cleaning section may also include a grain loss detector configured to measure the sieve-off loss and at least a portion of the blowout loss and a blowout sensor mounted above the sieve for measuring the blowout loss.

A method for determining a vibration pattern in a crop processing section of an agricultural harvester. The method may start with bringing the crop processing section into a predetermined pseudo-operational configuration. When in the predetermined pseudo-operational configuration, a plurality of vibration sensors is used to establish a reference vibration pattern. The established reference vibration pattern is then stored in a memory. Analysis of the reference vibration pattern may provide useful information about a current mechanical status of moving as well as stationary parts. Vibration patterns of many agricultural harvesters may be gathered in a cloud and processed using AI tools.

A crop quality sensor, comprising an illumination source, an imaging device, and a processor executing application software. The illumination source is shone onto a crop sample, and an image is taken with the imaging device of the illuminated crop sample. The software executing on the processor is used to analyze the image to identify the outlines of individual kernels and to identify which of those outlines contain a specular highlight, indicative that the kernel is whole and unbroken, while the absence of such a specular highlight is indicative of a broken kernel.

A harvester movable along a support surface. The harvester includes an inlet configured to receive crop, a blade configured to cut the crop into billet and extraneous plant matter, and a cleaning system configured to distinguish between billet and extraneous plant matter. Billet is directed toward a conveyor configured for discharging billet to a vehicle and extraneous plant matter is directed toward a hood. The hood includes a debris director defining an outlet configured to eject extraneous plant matter as residue onto the support surface. The outlet is disposed at an angle of residue ejection with respect to the support surface. The debris director is configured to adjust the angle of residue ejection with respect to the support surface.