Abstract
An automatic control strategy for forward speed in the planting process is proposed to improve the fuel economy and reduce the labor intensity of drivers. Models of tractors with power-shift transmission (PST) and a precise pneumatic planter with an electric-driven seed metering device are built as research objects and simulated using Matlab with Simulink. The economic comprehensive control strategies for forward speed, including gear-shift schedule and cruise control strategy, are developed. Four levels control mode with different fuel economy performances are implemented to meet different driver or operation condition requirements. In addition, the control strategy is developed for the seed-metering device motor to maintain the required seed spacing in planting. Finally, the fuel economy and effectiveness of the control strategies for forward speed and planting quality are verified by simulations with Matlab/Simulink and Matlab/Stateflow. The simulation results verify the satisfactory performance of the proposed control strategies. The error of seed spacing is less than 3% when planting with speed fluctuation. Under the premise of ensuring planting quality and driver’s demands, the cruise control strategies for forward speed have more significant effects on the fuel economy than previous cruise control strategies. Furthermore, the control mode with higher level has better fuel economy and a larger speed deviation range.
Highlights
With the development of precision agriculture [1], the tractor is developing as major and crucial power machinery towards the use of intelligence and informatization in agriculture
The main purpose of this paper is to provide an economic comprehensive cruise control strategy, including the gear-shifting schedule, for a tractor-planter combination under planting operation conditions, which is rarely studied by other researchers
In order to verify the economy and effectiveness of all the control strategies developed above for planting operations, it is essential to develop a simulation model that can simulate the behaviors of tractor-planter combination while planting
Summary
With the development of precision agriculture [1], the tractor is developing as major and crucial power machinery towards the use of intelligence and informatization in agriculture. Studies on intelligent tractors mainly focus on automatic navigation control, especially on the steering control and algorithms for positioning in navigation [2,3,4,5,6], and theoretical studies of automatic control of tractor speed and gear-shift schedules are lacking. The tractors with different agricultural implements has different power flows and operating characteristics, so different control strategies must be developed for gear shifting and cruise control. A tractor with a power-shift transmission combined with a pneumatic precision planter, which is illustrated, is chosen as research object. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an economic comprehensive cruise control strategy, including the gear-shifting schedule, for a tractor-planter combination under planting operation conditions, which is rarely studied by other researchers
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