Impact-based Grain Yield Sensor with Compensation for Vibration and Drift

Abstract

A grain yield sensor (yieldometer, yield monitor) was developed and tested in a paddy field. It comprised a plate attached to an extended square-ring loadcell, with an output compensated for background vibration by an accelerometer mounted on a combine. The sensor was installed near the inlet of the grain tank to receive the impact of the grain emitted from the blade of the vertical auger conveyer. The impact was extracted by setting a threshold, and the instantaneous zero-point of the output of the sensor was recalculated based upon its own output remaining after the extraction, to increase the precision of the estimation of the yield. The standard error of prediction of 0.067kg and the root mean squared relative error of 0.18% were achieved.