Technical Note: Sensor applications in agricultural machinery
(PresseBox) - As part of the many sensor technologies now widely employed in smart farming, where sophisticated monitoring and control is now universally applied to optimise crop production, mobile agricultural machinery manufacturers are increasingly utilising precision sensors as part of the equipment and systems they produce to till, seed, and harvest crops to further maximise productivity. Variohm EuroSensor - a leading sensor manufacturer and a sensor component distributor - has successfully undertaken a number of applications with UK and European farm machinery manufacturers for position, load, pressure and temperature sensors with almost all of them installed in harsh outdoor environments where large temperature extremes as well as severe shock and vibration conditions exist - and upmost reliability is essential. Applications range from angle sensors in sophisticated four-wheel steering systems that allow farm machinery to precisely manoeuvre in tight spaces for maximum crop yields to linear position and load sensors that are part of advanced mobile autonomous vehicles linked to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for vehicle guidance and load weight measurement.
These various types of sensors serve numerous measurement tasks. Some are configured open loop with the position or load information simply fed to a visual display to allow manual operation of a process. Other automated and autonomous machine tasks involve the sensing component as part of closed loop systems where often multiple functions are synchronised, for instance with vision systems and linear motion positioners or rotary actuators for tasks such as in-row weeding or selective crop harvesting.
The high precision angle and linear position sensing technologies offered by Variohm include potentiometric based sensors where there is a physical contact between a conductive plastic track and wiper contact in a housed assembly. As the sensor is extended or rotated, the position information is provided as a linearly proportional voltage measurement.
For rotary angle sensing, Variohm offers two Hall Effect technologies where there is no contact between a fixed sensing element and a rotating magnet. Whilst these sensor types do not differ in the actual way the sensing takes place, they can be differentiated by the first capability so that, if attached to ballscrew or leadscrews for instance, they can be calibrated to measure travel length.
For linear position measurement based on a non-contacting measurement principles, magnetorestrictive technology and variations that offer added reliability are available. As separate two-part rod and sensor components, they are assembled inside hydraulic cylinders (in-cylinder
Clearly, as wear and working life are important aspects for agricultural, and many other mobile machinery applications, the sensors that necessitate contact between sensing elements are possibly less favoured than non-contacting and touchless sensors. Also, in terms of robustness, where the separate sensor and magnets can be epoxy-potted and effectively protected from air and liquid ingress, these technologies are perhaps favoured for the most arduous tasks where long life, low maintenance and best reliability can be assured.
Also for medium precision linear position sensing, and especially useful for long distance measurement, the cable extension sensor combines a rotary sensor on a cable winding drum and a spring-assisted winch mechanism. As the cable extends from the drum it rotates the shaft driving the internal rotary sensor. The sensor technology used in the cable extension sensor can be potentiometric (sometimes called a string pot sensor) or incremental or absolute encoder.
Across this wide choice of position sensor types, accuracy, linearity, repeatability and other factors such as IP rating (up to IP69K), shock and vibration durability can be tuned to the application. The same applies for electrical input levels and electrical output requirements which cover analogue, ratiometric and many choices of digital output including CANopen, SAE J1939, SSI, and many more. Variohm also offers custom modification of electrical and mechanical interfacing to make customer installation as easy as possible.
Variohmzer dispensing machinery and hydraulic control management. Load cells, from an extensive range of product types used by the weighing industry and scale manufacturers, are in widespread use for bale weighing and load sensing for harvested crops in silos and mobile agricultural machinery. The load cel equipment.
With its longstanding distribution partnerships with several leading sensor manufacturers and wide application experience, plus design and assembly expertise and its own range of manufactured sensor products, Variohm EuroSensor offers complete sales and application support across a comprehensive range of sensor technologies for position, force, pressure, load, and temperature measurement in demanding measurement application across industry, motorsports and research.
Variohm EuroSensor is a manufacturer, distributor and supply chain partner providing complete sales and application support across a comprehensive range of position, force, pressure, load, and temperature sensor technologies - for demanding measurement applications across industry, construction, agriculture, motorsports, research and more.
Themen in dieser Pressemitteilung:
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Variohm EuroSensor is a manufacturer, distributor and supply chain partner providing complete sales and application support across a comprehensive range of position, force, pressure, load, and temperature sensor technologies - for demanding measurement applications across industry, construction, agriculture, motorsports, research and more.
Datum: 19.08.2020 - 09:16 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 1560215
Anzahl Zeichen: 7229
contact information:
Contact person:
Town:
Heidelberg
Phone:
Kategorie:
Family
Typ of Press Release:
type of sending:
Date of sending:
Anmerkungen:
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 488 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"Technical Note: Sensor applications in agricultural machinery
"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
Variohm Eurosensor Ltd (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
