Crop flow monitoring of a crop gathering device

US10091932B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• CLAAS Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Dennis Neitemeier · Lippetal, DE
• Thilo Krause · Glinde, DE
• Andreas Nienhaus · Hachenburg, DE
• Andreas Skiba · Bielefeld, DE
• Boris Kettelhoit · Vellmar, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 26, 2017
• Grant date: Oct 9, 2018
• Expiry date: Jun 26, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G16Z99/00
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An agricultural work machine, such as a self-propelled harvester, is provided. The agricultural work machine includes a crop gathering machine which has a crop cutting device, a crop collecting device and/or a crop feeding device, and at least one crop conveyor, and comprising an image processing system, a data output unit, and at least one sensor system assigned to the crop gathering machine for recording a crop flow in the crop gathering machine. The sensor system is coupled to the image processing system for transferring images. The image processing system processes a selection of available images, such as by pre-processing the images to be transferred in a first step, in a further step determining an optical flow and corresponding vector fields from the pre-processed images, and in a subsequent step deriving and assessing speed trends of the crop flow from the corresponding vector fields.