DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to agricultural implements and more particularly to a system and method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement of an agricultural vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
The growing technology has touched every sphere of the life. With the evolving technology, the agriculture has also witnessed the radical advancements in terms of the agricultural techniques, implements or machineries. Further, the continuous improvements in agricultural machineries and digital tools, as well as the collaborations between the digital technology and agricultural machineries have resulted into modernizing the agricultural system.
It has always been the continuous effort to increase the efficiencies of the machineries by reducing the complexities thereof and introducing the techniques which saves time, cost, labour etc. of the farmers.
It is well known to couple the agricultural machineries or implements with an agricultural vehicle in order to move or run the agricultural implements from the stage of soil preparation to the harvesting of the agricultural crop. Various agricultural implements which are pulled by the agricultural vehicle are required to be operated by the lift system of the agricultural vehicle to adjust the height of the agricultural implement in order to engage the implement with the soil where the Position Control (P.C.) lever of the agricultural vehicle is used to lift or lower the implements on the field and adjusting the height of ground implements as well.
It is also known to adjust the implement position via. P.C. lever where the user measures the depth of the cut of each implement on the field by way of measuring scale or measuring tape.
It has been observed that upon each re-coupling / connecting of the implement to the agricultural vehicle where the agricultural implements are operated or repeated one after another, the user is required to adjust manually the depth of cut configuration of the implement engaging soil on each and every time in order to achieve a desired depth of cut of the implement upon the soil as per the requirement(s) of the agricultural operation(s).
It has also been observed that measuring and adjusting the depth of the implements requires unnecessarily the time and the energy of the user. Further, measuring of the implement depth in the evening or in the night time, has been found as a complex and erroneous task, which reduces the accuracy and efficiency of the implements and increases the costs of the agricultural operation(s).
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve one or more of the aforesaid issues.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system for monitoring the operation of an agricultural vehicle, the system comprising: at least one angle sensor mounted on a lift arm of the agricultural vehicle for obtaining a real-time position of the lift arm with respect to movement of an agricultural implement; said control unit having a data of predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement stored in a memory, said control unit is configured to receive the real-time position of the lift arm from the angle sensor; and a user device configured to receive an input from user, communicably coupled to the control unit, said user device receives the real time position of the lift arm from the control unit to generate an alert; wherein said control unit calibrates the real time position of the lift arm with reference to a predetermined depth of cut data, and when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut, said control unit sends an alert signal to said user device.

According to the present invention, the user device is a wireless communication device connected with the control unit of the agricultural vehicle. The user device includes a user interface to receive said predetermined depth of cut data from user.

According to the present invention, the predetermined depth of cut is the user desired depth of soil level attained by the agricultural implement upon penetration into the soil.

According to the present invention, the data of predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement is stored with respect to angle of respective lift arm position.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement of an agricultural vehicle is provided. The method comprising the steps of: moving the agricultural implement into soil; obtaining a real time position of a lift arm received from a lift arm sensor and comparing with a predetermined depth of cut for attached agricultural implement; and alerting a user when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the predetermined depth depends on parameters including soil, type of crop, season, type of farming. The type of the farming includes normal farming, organic farming, and modern farming. The type of land includes a wet land and dry land, and usage of the land means the land is continuously to be used land or cultivating after certain time.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Reference will be made to embodiments of the invention which may be illustrated in the accompanying figure(s). These figure(s) are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. Although the invention is generally described in the context of these embodiments, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments.
Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement attached to an agricultural vehicle in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the steps of method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement attached to an agricultural vehicle in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.
Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.
The present invention discloses a system for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement of an agricultural vehicle. The system comprises at least one angle sensor mounted on a lift arm of the agricultural vehicle for obtaining a real-time position of the lift arm with respect to movement of an agricultural implement; said control unit having a data of predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement stored in a memory, said control unit is configured to receive the real-time position of the lift arm from the angle sensor; and a user device configured to receive an input from user, communicably coupled to the control unit, said user device receives the real time position of the lift arm from the control unit to generate an alert; wherein said control unit calibrates the real time position of the lift arm with reference to a predetermined depth of cut data, and when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut, said control unit sends an alert signal to said user device.

According to the present invention, the predetermined depth of cut is the user desired depth of soil level attained by the agricultural implementupon penetration into the soil. The predetermined depth depends on parameters including soil, type of crop, season, type of farming. The type of the farming includes normal farming, organic farming, and modern farming. The type of land includes a wet land and dry land, and usage of the land means the land is continuously to be used land or cultivating after certain time.

In accordance with the present invention, the system assists the user to store the data of desired depth of cut for each agricultural implement in the memory of the control unit at the time of first coupling/attachment of the agricultural implement with the agricultural vehicle. Upon re-coupling/attachment, the system assists the user to display the real-time position of the lift arm on the display screen of the user device. The control unit calibrates the real-time position of the lift arm with the predetermined depth of cut data stored for the attached agricultural implement. When the real time position of the lift arm becomes equal to the predetermined depth of cut, the control unit sends an alert signal to the user device informing that the particular agricultural implement has reached the desired or predetermined depth of cut as required for agricultural operation.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user device is a wireless communication device which comprises a display screen to display the real time position of the lift arm. The user device includes a user interface to receive said predetermined depth of cut data from user.
In accordance with the present invention, the predetermined depth of cut is the depth of soil level attained by the agricultural implement upon penetration into the soil. The height of the attached agricultural implement is controlled or adjusted by a position control lever of the agricultural vehicle in order to adjust the depth of cut. The predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement varies and depends upon the multiple factors, i.e. soil kind, size of the attached agricultural implement, height of the agricultural vehicle, requirements of the specified crops etc. The present invention overcomes the problem of the coupling of the many agricultural implement(s) to the agricultural vehicle where the agricultural implements are operated or repeated one after another in order to achieve the desired depth of cut for the attached agricultural implement.
Figure 1illustrates a system for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement of an agricultural vehicle in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The system comprises an angle sensor 14 mounted on the lift arm of the Agricultural Vehicle, the sensor is connected with a Farm Machinery Control Unit (FMCU) 10 of the Agricultural vehicle for providing a real time position of the lift arm. The control unit 10 includes a micro controller unit 11. A battery 22 is connected with the Farm Machinery Control Unit (FMCU). A CAN (Controller Area Network) interface 12 connected with the control unit 10 configured for receiving and transmitting the obtained real-time position of the lift arm with respect to the movement of an agricultural implement 20. The system comprises a wireless communication device 18 connected with the control unit 10 via. a wireless communication module 16. The wireless communication device 18 includes a display screen to show the real-time position of the lift arm coupled to the agricultural implement 20.The system includes a display 24 connected with control unit which displays the ignition status, engine speed of the agricultural vehicle etc. The user measures the agricultural implement 20 depth of cut in reference to the lift arm sensor 14 by moving the agricultural implement 20 via. a position control lever to a predetermined depth level of engagement of the implement into the soil and then measures manually the actual implement depth of cut value by a measuring scale/ tape. The said depth of cut value is stored in the control unit 10. For each implement 20 coupled with the agricultural Vehicle, the lift arm sensor 14 obtains the position of the lift arm with respect to movement of an agricultural implement 20 in reference to the actual depth measured by the user. The lift arm sensor 14 sends the position of the lift arm in form of data signal to the control unit 10 which stores the data for each agricultural implement 20. The control unit 10 is configured to receive the real-time position of the lift arm from the sensor 14 and communicate it to the user device18.
The control unit 10 calibrates the real time position of the lift armwith reference to a predetermined depth of cut data upon re-coupling the agricultural implement to the agricultural vehicle, and when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut, said control unit 10 sends an alert signal to the user device 18.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the alert signal sent by the control unit to the user device may notify the user in form of an audio or visual signal which assists the user in achieving the predetermined depth of cut in the evening or night time.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the data of pre-determined depth of cut with respect to the angle of respective lift position for each agricultural implement is stored in the control unit of the system. The predetermined depth of cut data includes the degree of rotation of the lift arm obtained while engaging the agricultural implement into the soil at a predetermined or desired depth.
In accordance with an advantageous aspect of the present invention, the user may obtain the actual implement depth by providing the measured depth value to the control unit. Upon coupling the said implement again and numerously, the same depth of cut for the implement is achieved and thus,the user is not required to measure the implement depth on each time while connecting the agricultural implement with the agricultural vehicle.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the system for monitoring the operation of the agricultural vehicle comprises; a control unit for controlling and indicating the depth of implement; a depth sensing element mounted on the lift arm of a tractor, the said depth sensing element is connected with the control unit; a Bluetooth module connected with the control unit of the system; a wireless communication device having a display screen and a user interface. The wireless communication device is connected with the Bluetooth module of the system. The depth sensing element is an angle sensor which calculates the current position of the lift arm of the tractor and sends signals to the control unit. The control unit receives the signal from the depth sensing element and sends the signal data to the wireless communication device via. a Bluetooth Module. The wireless communication records the data in the user interface of the wireless communication device. The display screen of the wireless communication device shows and indicates the real time lift arm position of the agricultural implement.
Fig. 2 illustrates the steps of method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural Implement of an agricultural vehicle, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. The method requires the initial step of the starting the system by a user. Thereafter, the user is required to connect the agricultural implement with the agricultural vehicle. The user is required to open the user device app connected with the control unit of the system. Thereafter, the user is required to move the implement to the required depth i.e. the predetermined depth using position control lever of the agricultural vehicle. The user is required to measure the depth of cut manually by a measuring scale or measure tape. The achieved implement position will be equal to the current position of Lift arm sensor position and the user has to store this depth of cut data into the memory of the system in the name of the implement. The same way user can calibrate and save it for different agricultural implement(s). Then, upon re-coupling/ connecting the agricultural implement, the user is required to open the calibration mode of the user device app and select the implement from the saved implements. The user device will show the real time position of the lift arm and the user is required to move the lift arm to calibrate the real-time lift arm position with the predetermined depth of cut for the attached agricultural implement. The user device displays the depth of cut and generates an audio or visual signal automatically to a user when the real time position of the lift arm becomes equal to the predetermined depth of cut. If the real-time position of the lift arm is not equal to the predetermined depth of cut, the user is required to adjust the same using PC lever.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural Implement of an agricultural vehicle is provided. The method comprising the steps of: moving the agricultural implement 20 into soil; obtaining a real time position of a lift arm received from a lift arm sensor 14 and comparing with a predetermined depth of cut for attached agricultural implement 20; and alerting a user when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut.
The agricultural implement 20 is required to be connected with an agricultural vehicle having a control unit 10. The agricultural implement 20 is moved into soil surface at a required depth i.e. predetermined depth of cut. The real time position of a lift arm is obtained from a lift arm sensor 14. The predetermined depth of cut data obtained by a measuring scale is stored into the control unit 10. The control unit 10 is configured to calibrate the real time position data of the lift arm with the predetermined depth of cut of the selected attached agricultural implement. The control unit 10 generates an alert signal automatically to a user device 18 when the real time position of the lift arm reaches at the predetermined depth of cut.
The user device includes a user interface application having a selection mode for selecting the attached implement among the stored agricultural implement(s) and a calibration mode to calibrate the real time position of the lift arm with the predetermined depth of cut.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement connected with the agricultural vehicle is calculated by using a measuring scale. A user can measure the depth of engagement of the agricultural implement into the soil by using ameasuring scale or measuring tape. The said depth of cut data is stored in the user device in the name of the attached agricultural implement with reference to its respective lift arm position while engagement into the soil. The user may adjust the depth of cut by operating Position Control lever of the Agricultural Vehicle.
Example 1:
The system of the present invention was tested for an agricultural Vehicle X. An agricultural implement Y was connected with an Agricultural Vehicle. A user device was paired and connected with the control system of agricultural implement to display the lift arm position. The lift arm of the agricultural vehicle X was moved from unengaged position of the agricultural implement to the full engagement of the agricultural implement into the soil via. a Position Control lever of the Agricultural Vehicle. At un-engaged position, the depth of cut value equals to zero (0)cm, and the respect lift arm angle (Position) was found to be 31 degree. Upon full engagement, the depth of cut was measuredas 15 cm and the respect lift arm angle (Position) was found to be 72 degree. The desired (predetermined) depth of cut i.e. 8 cm for the subjected soil surface having the lift arm angle of 53 degree was stored in the user device in the name of agricultural implement Y. Thereafter, the implement was removed and attached again with the system. The user interface application of device was opened and under selection mode implement Y was selected. The implement was moved to the soil engagement position by using PC lever. The user device displayed the real time position (angle) of the lift arm and when the predetermined depth of cut i.e. 8 cm was achieved, the user device generated a voice signal. Hence, the present system was found to be successful in calibrating the real-time position of the lift arm with the predetermined depth of cut.
Many modifications may be made without departing from the basic spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced other than has been specifically described herein.

,CLAIMS:
1. A system for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement (20)attached to an agricultural vehicle, the system comprising:
at least one angle sensor (14) mounted on a lift arm of the agricultural vehicle for obtaining a real-time position of the lift arm with respect to movement of an agricultural implement (20);
a control unit (10) having a data of predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement (20) stored in a memory, said control unit (10) is configured to receive the real-time position of the lift arm from the angle sensor (14); and
a user device (18) is configured to receive an input from user, communicably coupled to the control unit (10), said user device (18) receives the real time position of the lift arm from the control unit (10) to generate an alert;
wherein said control unit (10) calibrates the real time position of the lift arm with reference to a predetermined depth of cut data, and when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut, said control unit (10) sends an alert signal to said user device (18).

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user device (18) is a wireless communication device.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user device (18) includes a user interface to receive said predetermined depth of cut data from user.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined depth of cut is the user desired depth of soil level attained by the agricultural implement (20) upon penetration into the soil.

5. The system as claimed in claim1, wherein the user device (18) includes a display screen to display the real time position of the lift arm.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data of predetermined depth of cut for each agricultural implement (20) is stored in said control unit (10) with respect to angle of respective lift arm position.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the predetermined depth depends on parameters including soil, type of crop, season, type of farming.

8. A method for monitoring the operation of an agricultural implement (20) attached to an agricultural vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
moving the agricultural implement (20) into soil;
obtaining a real time position of a lift arm received from a lift arm sensor (14) and comparing with a predetermined depth of cut for attached agricultural implement (20); and
alerting a user when the real time position of the lift arm reaches to the predetermined depth of cut.

9. The method as claimed in claim9, wherein the agricultural implement (20) is moved by a position control lever of the agricultural vehicle.