Inter-Row Cultivator with a Large Working Width

Abstract

An inter-row cultivator with a large working width, comprising a base frame with a chassis, via which the base frame is supported on the soil, and a drawbar by means of which the inter-row cultivator can be suspended on a towing vehicle; at least two tool segments, which extend transversely to the travel direction over the entire working width in a working position and which preferably extend along the travel direction in a transport position; and a plurality of hoeing assemblies which are arranged on the tool segments via a respective height guide device, preferably a remotely adjustable height guide device, wherein soil working tools paired with individual plant rows are arranged on the hoeing assemblies. The aim of the invention is to improve the care of cultivated plants. This is achieved in that the tool segments are arranged on the base frame separately movable manner transversely to the travel direction via a respective moving unit so as to be controllable and/or regulatable at least in working position, and a control and/or regulating unit is provided in order to determine suitable positions of the tool segments and to set said positions by means of the moving units.

Claims

1. An inter-row cultivator with a large working width, comprising: a base frame with a chassis that supports the base frame on the soil, and a drawbar which attaches the inter-row cultivator to a towing vehicle, at least two tool segments extending over substantially the entire working width in a working position transverse to a travel direction and preferably extending longitudinally to the travel direction in a transport position, a plurality of hoeing assemblies arranged on the tool segments via a respective, preferably remotely adjustable, height guide device, wherein soil working tools associated with individual plant rows are arranged on the hoeing assemblies, characterized in that the tool segments are arranged on the base frame in separately movable manner transversely to the travel direction via a respective moving unit so as to be controllable and/or regulatable at least in the working position, with a control and/or regulating unit being provided so as to determine suitable positions of the tool segments and to set said positions by means of the moving units.

2. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the chassis comprises at least one steering axle, and the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis.

3. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized by at least one coulter disc that is arranged on the base frame, in particular on an extension of the base frame, so as to be rotatable in an adjustable manner about an at least approximately upright axis, wherein the control and/or regulating unit is configured to adjust an angle of attack of the coulter disc.

4. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 2, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit comprises detection means for determining the relative position between the inter-row cultivator and a towing vehicle, in that the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis so as to follow the track of a towing vehicle.

5. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 3, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit comprises detection means for determining an inclination of the inter-row cultivator, preferably of the at least two tool segments, in that the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis and/or to set an adapted angle of attack of the coulter disc on the basis of the detected inclination.

6. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 3, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit comprises sensors for detecting lateral forces arising from the actuation of the moving units, wherein the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis and/or to set an adapted angle of attack of the coulter disc on the basis of the detected lateral forces.

7. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 3, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit comprises detection means for detecting a displacement path of the moving units wherein the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis and/or to set an adapted angle of attack of the coulter disc on the basis of at least one detected displacement path.

8. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the drawbar is configured to be variable in length, preferably telescopic, wherein the control and/or regulating unit is configured to adjust the length of the drawbar.

9. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit is configured to be connected to a towing vehicle in a signal-conducting manner and to transmit control signals, in particular steering signals and/or signals for controlling at least one hydraulic control unit, to the towing vehicle.

10. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the base frame comprises at least one swivel device with at least one horizontal swivel axis, in that the moving units and/or tool segments are configured to be swivelled about the horizontal swivel axis by at least 10 degrees, preferably at least 30 degrees, particularly preferably at least 50 degrees.

11. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 10, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit is configured to actuate the swivel device for turning the inter-row cultivator, in particular when the end and/or beginning of a plant row to be cultivated is reached.

12. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the moving units comprise a parallelogram guide, wherein, for assuming the transport position, the control and/or regulating unit is configured to actuate the moving units so as to reduce the area enclosed by the parallelogram guide.

13. The Inter-row cultivator according to claim 10, characterized by a sequential circuit, in particular an electro-hydraulic sequential circuit coupling the swivel device to a folding device for moving the tool segments between the working position and the transport position.

14. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one hoeing assembly preferably arranged centrally behind the base frame, has an adjustable cutting width.

15. The inter-row cultivator according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit is implemented as a central computer configured to receive signals from detection units and to process them further for the optimized control of actuators.

16. The inter-row cultivator according to claim 1, characterized in that the control and/or regulating unit comprises storage means configured to store the GPS data of a sowing operation of a seeder in a retrievable manner, in that the control and/or regulating unit is configured to control the moving units, and preferably the height guide devices, on the basis of the GPS data of the sowing operation.

17. A towing set comprising a towing vehicle and an inter-row cultivator according to any one of claim 3, wherein the towing vehicle comprises a three-point linkage with two lower links, characterized in that a hydraulic master cylinder is arranged between the lower links and the inter-row cultivator so as to enable detection of an angle between the inter-row cultivator and the towing vehicle, in that the master cylinder is coupled directly hydraulically to an actuator for steering the steering axle of the chassis and/or to an actuator for setting the angle of attack of the coulter disc.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] FIG. 1 shows, in plan view, a towing set consisting of a towing vehicle and an inter-row cultivator with a large working width in working position,

[0031] FIG. 2 shows the towing set in transport position in side view,

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a side view of the inter-row cultivator according to FIG. 1,

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a side view of the inter-row cultivator in a first intermediate position,

[0034] FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the inter-row cultivator in a second intermediate position, and

[0035] FIG. 6 shows a top view of the towing set in intermediate position when cornering.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] A towing set including a towing vehicle 1 and an inter-row cultivator 2 with a large working width is shown in FIG. 1 in plan view, with the inter-row cultivator 2 being in a working position. The inter-row cultivator 2 includes a base frame 3 with a chassis 4 via which the base frame 3 is supported on the soil. The base frame 3 also has a drawbar 5 at its front end, by means of which the inter-row cultivator 2 may be attached to the towing vehicle 1. The inter-row cultivator 2 is thus configured as towed soil cultivation implement.

[0037] The inter-row cultivator 2 further includes two tool segments 6A, 6B which, in the working position shown, extend transversely to the travel direction F over substantially the entire working width AB. To assume a transport position of the inter-row cultivator 2, the tool segments 6A, 6B may be swivelled and folded in so that they extend longitudinally to the travel direction F, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0038] A plurality of hoeing assemblies 7 is arranged on the tool segments 6A, 6B, each via a remotely adjustable height guide device 8. The height guide devices are designed as parallelograms and may be adjusted remotely by means of an actuator 8A. Soil working tools 9 assigned to individual plant rows P are arranged on the hoeing assemblies 7. In the working position, the hoeing assemblies 7 extend rearward from the tool segment 6A, 6B in the travel direction F. In the transport position according to FIG. 2, the hoeing assemblies 7 extend at least approximately vertically upwards, for which a swivel device 13 is provided, as will be explained in more detail later.

[0039] Since the seeders creating the plant rows P often operate with a smaller working width S, for example half as wide as the working width AB of the inter-row cultivator 2, as shown in FIG. 1, different distances X between adjacent plant rows P of individual working widths S of a seeder may occur. These incorrect distances X may result from inaccurate connecting runs during operation of the seeder. In order to compensate for different distances X and thus to guide the hoeing assemblies 7 with the soil working tools 9 arranged thereon in a suitable manner between the plant rows P, the tool segments 6A, 6B are arranged on the base frame 3 so as to be separately displaceably at least in the working position transversely to the travel direction F by means of a moving unit 10 in each case. The tool segments 6A, 6B are arranged separately displaceably on the base frame 3. The inter-row cultivator 2 includes a control and/or regulating unit 11, by means of which a suitable position of the tool segments 6A, 6B may be determined and may be set via the moving units 10. The tool segments 6A, 6B may thus be displaced in a controllable and/or regulatable/regulable manner independently of one another transversely to the travel direction F relative to the base frame 3 and the chassis 4.

[0040] In the illustrated inter-row cultivator 2, the base frame 3 includes two foldable extensions 3A, 3B. The extensions 3A, 3B may be folded into the transport position along the travel direction F via actuators not shown and with the aid of the swivel device 13, so that the tool segments 6A, 6B also extend into transport position along the travel direction F. The moving units 10 are provided between the extensions 3A, 3B. Each of the moving units 10 is designed as a parallelogram guide and includes an actuator designed as a synchronous cylinder 10A. The synchronous cylinders 10A or valves associated therewith are connected in a signal-conducting manner to the control and/or regulating unit 11 so that the position of the respective tool segment 6A, 6B may be individually adjusted.

[0041] Detection means configured as camera systems 12 are assigned to the control and/or regulating unit 11. By means of the camera systems 12, the plant rows P may be detected, so that the control and/or regulating unit 11 may continuously determine positions, in which the soil working tools 9 are guided between the plant rows P. Since the soil working tools 9 are arranged on the tool segments 6A, 6B via the hoeing assembly 7 and the height guide device 8, the control and/or regulating unit 11 is configured to guide the soil working tools 9 between the plant rows P in an improved manner, in particular by compensating for changing distances X.

[0042] To compensate for changing distances X, a hoeing assembly 7 arranged centrally behind the base frame 3 also has an adjustable cutting width. In the case of the inter-row cultivator 2 with large working width AB shown in FIG. 1, the hoeing assembly 7 arranged in front of the applied distance X in the travel direction F has an adjustable cutting width so that its mode of operation may be adapted to the changing distances X. The distance between the soil working tools 9 arranged on the hoeing assembly 7 may be regarded as the cutting width of a hoeing assembly 7. With the aid of the adjustable cutting width of the centrally arranged hoeing assembly 7, intermediate spaces of varying distances X between the plant rows P of adjacent working widths S of a seeder may thus be worked in an improved manner.

[0043] The control and/or regulating unit 11 is further adapted to remotely adjust the height guide devices 8 of the hoeing assemblies 7, wherein the control and/or regulating unit 11 includes storage means for GPS-based data so that the adjustment of the height guide devices 8 may be performed automatically on the basis of the GPS data.

[0044] The chassis 4 of the inter-row cultivator 2 includes a steering axle, wherein the control and/or regulating unit 11 is adapted to steer the chassis 4. The control and/or regulating unit 11 may include storage means that are arranged to store the GPS data of a sowing operation performed by a seeder in a retrievable manner. Usually, so-called tramlines are created during the placement of seed. No seed is placed in the tramlines, so that, at a later time, maintenance equipment such as the inter-row cultivator 2 may be moved along these tramlines across the field without destroying plant rows P. The control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis 4, in particular along the created tramlines, on the basis of the GPS data stored on the storage means.

[0045] The control and/or regulating unit 11 may further include sensors for detecting the speed of the wheel axle of the towing vehicle 1, the link angle of the towing vehicle 1 and/or of the chassis 4 of the inter-row cultivator 2 and/or the position, in particular the GPS signal, of the towing vehicle 2 or may be connected to such sensors of the towing vehicle 2 in a data-exchanging manner. As a result, the control and/or regulating unit is configured to steer the chassis 4 on the basis of the signals of the data of such sensors.

[0046] By means of the steering axle, the chassis 4 may thus be swivelled relative to the base frame 3 so that it has a steering angle relative to the travel direction F. The inter-row cultivator 2 may thus be steered out of the track of the towing vehicle 1 and/or follow the track of the towing vehicle 1 even when cornering, as indicated in FIG. 6. Furthermore, the inter-row cultivator 2 is configured by means of the steering axle of the chassis 4 and its coupling with the control and/or regulating unit 11 to counteract the downhill force pushing the inter-row cultivator 2 downhill out of the track of the towing vehicle 1 when driving on a slope by turning the chassis against the downhill force.

[0047] The inter-row cultivator 2 further includes a plurality of support wheels 14 arranged on the base frame 3. Two support wheels 14 are arranged on each of the two extensions 3A, 3B so as to enable the tool segments 6A, 6B and the moving units 10 to be supported on the soil. The support wheels 14 may be steerable about an upright axis, the support wheels 14 being connected to the control and/or regulating unit 11 in a signal-conducting manner. By steering the support wheels 14, the track of the inter-row cultivator 2 may be influenced.

[0048] In an embodiment not shown, instead of at least one of the support wheels, a coulter disc is arranged on an extension 3A, 3B of the base frame 3 so as to be rotatable in an adjustable manner about an at least approximately upright axis. The control and/or regulating unit 11 is configured to adjust an angle of attack of the coulter disc. In the working position of the inter-row cultivator 2, the coulter disc is in contact with the soil comparable to the soil working tools 9, as shown in FIG. 3. Preferably, one coulter disc is arranged on each extension 3A, 3B. The coulter discs may thus transmit forces between the soil and the base frame 3. If the coulter discs are aligned in the travel direction F, their resistance due to contact with the soil transverse to the travel direction F acts against lateral forces emanating from the base frame 3, while no force is transmitted from the coulter discs to the base frame 3. The coulter discs may transmit a force to the base frame 3 by means of an angle of attack. For this purpose, the coulter discs may be rotated in an adjustable manner by the control and/or regulating unit 11 via an actuator.

[0049] The control and/or regulating unit 11 includes detection means for determining the relative position between the inter-row cultivator 2 and the towing vehicle 1. On the basis of these detection means the control and/or regulating unit 11 is configured to steer the chassis 4 in such a way that it follows the track of the towing vehicle 1. These detection means may include a gyroscope and/or an angle detector between the drawbar 5 and the towing vehicle 1.

[0050] Furthermore, the control and/or regulating unit 11 includes detection means for determining an inclination of the inter-row cultivator 2. By means of these detection means, the control and/or regulating unit 11 is configured to steer the chassis 4 and, if coulter discs are present, to set an adapted angle of attack of the coulter discs. By means of the detection means, the control unit 11 is configured to determine downward forces resulting from the detected inclination and to counteract them via the chassis 4 and/or the coulter disc. When driving on slopes, the occurring slope drift may thus be compensated for in an advantageous manner.

[0051] As explained above, the moving units 10 may also be used to displace the tool segments 6A, 6B in working position transverse to the travel direction F. However, when the moving units 10 are actuated lateral forces are generated by the soil working tools 9 in contact with the soil, which act on the base frame 3 and could push the chassis 4 off track. The control and/or regulating unit 11 therefore includes sensors for detecting the lateral forces, wherein the control and/or regulating unit 11 may steer the chassis 4 and/or set a suitable angle of attack of the coulter discs on the basis of the detected lateral forces. The suitable steering of the chassis 4 and/or a suitable angle of attack of the at least one coulter disc may thus at least approximately compensate the lateral forces, so that the inter-row cultivator 2 is guided in an improved manner.

[0052] In order to control the moving units 10 in an expedient and operationally safe manner, the control and/or regulating unit 11 includes detection means for detecting a displacement path of the moving units 10. The detection means may be designed as a displacement measuring system of the synchronous cylinders 10A. The control and/or regulating unit 11 may steer the chassis 4 and/or set an angle of attack of the coulter disc on the basis of the detected displacement path. Thus, the chassis 4 may be steered, for example, in the direction of the displacement path of a moving unit 10, so that the displacement path is available again for guiding the hoeing assemblies 7 between the plant rows P.

[0053] The control and/or regulating unit 11 also includes storage means that are configured to store the GPS data of a sowing operation of a seeder in a retrievable manner. The control and/or regulating unit 11 may use the GPS data of the sowing operation, in particular the position data of the deposited seed and/or created tramlines, to control the moving units 10 and the height guide devices 8, so that the hoeing assemblies 7 may be guided in a suitable manner between the plant rows P even if the camera system 12 fails.

[0054] The control and/or regulating unit 11 is further connectable to the towing vehicle 1 in a signal-conducting manner, so that control signals, such as steering signals and/or signals for controlling at least one hydraulic control unit, may be transmitted to the towing vehicle 1. The actuators of the inter-row cultivator 2 may thus be controlled directly by the towing vehicle by being coupled to a hydraulic control unit of the towing vehicle 1. Furthermore, the track guidance of the towing vehicle 1 including the towing vehicle and the inter-row cultivator 2 may be improved by providing the towing vehicle 1 with a track from the control and/or regulating unit 11. The towing vehicle 1 may then move to this track so that the inter-row cultivator 2 is moved in an improved manner over the field to be cultivated.

[0055] Towing vehicles 1 of this type regularly have a three-point linkage with two lower links at their rear end. The inter-row cultivator 2 is attached to the lower links of the towing vehicle 1 via its drawbar 5. In order to create a particularly robust control of the actuator for steering the steering axle of the chassis 4 and/or of the actuator for setting the angle of attack of the coulter disc for the towing vehicle, a hydraulic master cylinder may be arranged between the lower links and the inter-row cultivator 2. The master cylinder is thus configured to detect an angle between the inter-row cultivator 2 and the towing vehicle 1. The control is implemented in that the master cylinder is directly hydraulically coupled to at least one of the aforementioned actuators, so that oil displaced from the master cylinder leads to a change in travel of one of the or both actuators.

[0056] As can be seen from FIGS. 1 to 5, the base frame 3 includes the swivel device 13 already mentioned above. The swivel device 13 has the horizontal swivel axis 15, which is arranged transverse to the travel direction F. The moving units 10 and tool segments 6A, 6B arranged on the extensions 3A, 3B may be pivoted about the horizontal swivel axis 15. For this purpose, the swivel device 13 includes the actuators 13A. In order to move the moving units 10 and the tool segments 6A, 6B from the working position shown in FIG. 3 to an intermediate position shown in FIG. 4, the actuators 13A may be actuated. The tool segments 6A, 6B and the moving units 10 are swiveled upwards with respect to the horizontal by a swivel angle ? of at least 10 degrees. Preferably, the swivel angle ? may be at least 30 degrees or, particularly preferably, at least 50 degrees. The soil working tools 9 already have an increased ground clearance in this intermediate position, so that the inter-row cultivator 2 may be turned at the headland. For turning the inter-row cultivator 2 when reaching the end of a plant row P to be cultivated, the control and/or regulating unit 11 may actuate the swivel device 13 to establish the ground clearance. Upon reaching the beginning of a plant row P to be cultivated, the control and/or regulating unit 11 may actuate the swivel device 13 to return the tool segments 6A, 6B to the working position.

[0057] In addition, the hoeing assemblies 7 may be brought into a further raised position via the height guide devices 8, as shown in FIG. 5. By means of a suitable input device, which is arranged on the towing vehicle 1 for example, the control and/or regulating unit 11 may be preset by a user with a target value as a height value that corresponds to the height, to which the soil working tools 9 are to be raised with the aid of the swivel device 13 and/or the height guide devices 8 for the turning process. The user may thus adapt the lifting of the hoeing assemblies 7 during the turning operation to the size of the plant rows P to be cultivated and, as a result, make the turning operation efficient.

[0058] In order to move the inter-row cultivator 2 from the working position shown in FIG. 1 to the transport position shown in FIG. 2, the swivel device 13 is combined with a folding device for folding the extensions 3A, 3B. First, the extensions 3A, 3B in combination with the moving units 10 and tool segments 6A, 6B arranged thereon are swiveled up by at least approximately 90 degrees by means of the swivel device 13. The hoeing assemblies 7 thus point upwards from the tool segments 6A, 6B at least approximately vertically, as can be seen in FIG. 2. By means of the folding device, the extensions 3A, 3B together with the moving units 10 and tool segments 6A, 6B arranged thereon are then folded forward so that they extend in the travel direction F. In addition, the parallelogram guides of the moving units 10 are deformed by means of the synchronous cylinders 10A by the control and/or regulating unit 11 in such a way that the area 16 enclosed by the parallelogram guide is reduced. In other words, the tool segments 6A, 6B are shifted backwards in the travel direction by means of the moving units 10, thereby lowering the same and the hoeing assemblies 7 arranged thereon. The inter-row cultivator 2 thus reaches a transport position with a particularly low transport height and small transport width.

[0059] An electro-hydraulic sequential circuit may be provided that couples the swivel device 13 and the folding device for moving the tool segments 6A, 6B between the working position and the transport position so that the sequence of movements described above may run automatically.

[0060] In FIG. 6, the towing set consisting of towing vehicle 1 and inter-row cultivator 2 is shown during cornering, such as occurs during turning. While the towing vehicle 1 is already on a curved section of the track, the inter-row cultivator 2 extends far to the rear, where the chassis 4 is still on a straight section of the track. To ensure that the chassis 4 does not leave the track while the towing vehicle 1 is already pulling the drawbar 5 into the curve and thus begins to turn the inter-row cultivator 2, the control and/or regulating unit 11 is configured to steer the chassis 4. For this purpose, detection means and sensors explained above may be used in an advantageous manner to improve the steering maneuver. In order to further improve the cornering and the tracking of the inter-row cultivator 2, the drawbar is designed to be variable in length, namely telescopic. The control and/or regulating unit 11 is arranged to adjust the length of the drawbar. While a short drawbar length is advantageous in the working position, in particular for the turning operations, an increased drawbar length may be set for assuming the transport position so that the tool segments 6A, 6B have sufficient space along the inter-row cultivator 2.

[0061] In order to efficiently process the multitude of signals from various detection units and to convert them into control signals for all actuators, the control and/or regulating unit 11 may be configured as a central computer. The control and/or regulating unit 11 configured as a central computer includes an optimization program for coordinating the control of the actuators.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0062] 1 Towing vehicle [0063] 2 Inter-row cultivator [0064] 3 Base frame [0065] 3A, 3B Extension [0066] 4 Chassis [0067] 5 Drawbar [0068] 6A, 6B Tool segment [0069] F Travel direction [0070] AB Working width [0071] 7 Hoeing assembly [0072] 8 Height guide device [0073] 8A Actuator [0074] P Plant row [0075] 9 Soil working tool [0076] S Working width (seeder) [0077] X Distance [0078] 10 Moving unit [0079] 10A Synchronous cylinder [0080] 11 Control and/or regulating unit [0081] 12 Camera system [0082] 13 Swivel device [0083] 13A Actuator [0084] 14 Support wheel [0085] 15 Swivel axis [0086] ? Swivel angle [0087] 16 Area