Electronic Design of a Cotton Harvester Yield Monitor Calibration System

Mathew G Pelletier,Greg A Holt,John D Wanjura

doi:10.3390/agriengineering1040038

Mathew G Pelletier, Greg A Holt + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering1040038

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Abstract

Several yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally. Thus, the utility of yield monitors as tools for on-farm research is limited unless steps are taken to calibrate the systems as cultivars and conditions change. This technical note details the electronic system design for a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers. The system was based upon the use of pressure sensors to measure the weight of the basket by monitoring the static pressure in the hydraulic lift cylinder circuit. To ensure accurate weighing, the system automatically lifted the basket to a target lift height, allowed the basket time to settle, then weighed the contents of the basket. The software running the system was split into two parts that were run on an embedded low-level micro-controller and a mobile computer located in the harvester cab. The system was field tested under commercial conditions and found to measure basket load weights within 2.5% of the reference scale. As such, the system was proven to be capable of providing an on-board auto-correction to a yield monitor for use in multi-variety field trials.

Highlights

Introduction and Overview of theResearch and Results of System PerformanceSeveral yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally
This technical note details the electronic design for a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers and is one of three technical notes that are in support of a master research paper covering the development and design of the calibration system
In order to reduce the dependence on ancillary equipment and labor, and increase the efficiency of data collection, yield monitors used on grain combines have proven to be reliable tools in on-farm research efforts due to their consistent accuracy and lack of need for variety-specific calibration

Summary

Introduction and Overview of the Research and Results of System Performance

Several yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally. The utility of yield monitors as tools for on-farm research is limited unless steps are taken to calibrate the systems as cultivars and conditions change This technical note details the electronic design for a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers and is one of three technical notes that are in support of a master research paper covering the development and design of the calibration system. Previous work by Wanjura et al (2015 and 2016) [17,18] described the development and testing of the system for use on cotton harvesters that measures accumulated cotton weight inside a harvester basket, facilitating the frequent calibration of cotton yield monitors without the need for expensive, time-consuming, and often unavailable ancillary mobile scale equipment. All of the electronic design files are included with this technical notes in the supplemental compressed zip file (Supplementary Materials) and is available on the MDPI web-site where this paper is located

Electronic Design

C39 C37 C3216JBT14V951X5647M6K160035AACTE300

Findings

Conclusions