Deere & Company

Iowa State University Research Foundation Inc

Nicholas W Vanlaningham

Jeffrey Scott Wigdahl

Brandon C Carlson

Jeffrey C Askey

Kurt D Gustafson

Charles Frederick Ostermeier

A cotton harvester estimates the mass of cotton as it is harvested using sensor devices and compares the mass of each module against the estimated mass of the module as determined by the sensors so that a calibration factor may be determined and actively updated for more accurate crop yield determination. The mass flow for a specific module is accumulated and processed during harvesting using a base calibration factor and the module is weighed and compared against the expected mass using the base calibration factor to develop a candidate updated calibration factor. The base calibration factor is selectively replaced by the candidate updated calibration factor for processing a subsequent module based on machine feedback information relating to the operation of the harvester. Harvested crop data determined using the calibration factor is used to generate highly accurate yield maps.

Crop yield determining apparatus

A sensor input is detected on a cotton harvester. A performance characteristic value is identified based upon the detected sensor input. A speed control system controls cotton harvester drum speed and spindle speed, automatically, and separately from the ground speed of the cotton harvester, to improve the performance characteristic value, in a closed-loop fashion.

Cotton harvesting machine with automatically variable drum and spindle speed

Growing community of inventors

Bondurant, IA, United States of America

Nicholas W Vanlaningham