• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.328-343
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• 1993

To control depth of tractor implement, an automatic depth control system based upon microcomputer was developed. This system consists of data aquisition system to measure and to record travel speed, draft and depth of the implement, hydraulic system to control the implement depth and 3-point hitch to attach the implement. Program, written in C language, was able to select position control, draft control and mixed control. To analyze parameters affecting this system, the performance of the system was evaluated through use of computer simulation and verified in soil bin experiments. 3-point hitch was lifted by hydraulic pressure and lowered by implement weight. Dead band was one of the important factors which affect the stability and the accuracy of the system. The system became unstable when the flow rate was increased or when the dead band was decreased. The position control mode with on-off control showed the great ability to control the implement at the given plowing depth. With the draft control, the tractor load could be reduced, however the plowing depth was changed unexpectedly when the soil was hard and inconsistent. The mixed control could improve the performance of the system to maintain the plowing depth without overload of the tractor.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2011

Tractor implements are mainly utilized for the tillage operation. The proposed hydraulic system control was implemented to experimental apparatus. An implement control system for tractor using proportional valve was fabricated to improve the working efficiency. Hydraulic circuit included the proportional solenoid valve and on/off solenoid valve and so on. This paper shows results of a specification and design of an implement control system for tractor using proportional valve for automation. It was conducted to evaluate response characteristics of the designed implement control system under experimental conditions of various input flow rates. The results of experiments showd that the response characteristics was sufficient to be used as the implement control system.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2016

Purpose: Many tractors have adopted the horizontal control system designed to maintain the three-point mounted implements in horizontal position when they are tilted sideways. The control system rotates the implement in the opposite direction to the inclination of rear axle of the tractor. However, the current control system was found to have poor performance in accuracy and response. A new control system was therefore developed to improve the performance. Methods: The new control system was designed to get the response of the implement to be started earlier by using the tilt information from the front axle of the tractor. By this approach, the rotation of the implement can be adjusted as required to make it horizontal at the expected time, even though the response is slow. The optimal values of the control parameters for the new system were determined by computer simulation and validated by a performance test conducted with an obstacle of 120 mm height on a flat concrete surface. The performance of the control system was evaluated by the root mean square error (RMSE) of the rotation angle of the implement with respect to the actual inclination of the rear axle. Results: The new control system reduced the RMSE of the current control system by 44.6% indicating a high performance improvement. The inclination of the front axle was easily obtained from a sensor mounted on the front axle of the tractor and used as input to the new control system. Conclusions: The method of getting the response of the implement to be started earlier by utilizing the inclination information of the front axle can be applied to improve the performance of the current control system at least cost.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.521-528
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• 2002

Rotary and plow implements are mainly utilized for the tillage operation in Korea, and a implement control system for agricultural tractors was designed and fabricated to improve the working accuracy and efficiency. The control system was composed of three units: 1) sensors fur detection of angle of liftarm, draft force, engine rpm, tillage depth and so on, 2) a controller, and 3) hydraulic circuits, which included solenoid valves and so on, for operation of three point linkage and implements. The control system can control the speed(high and low speed) of implements by adjusting input flow rates of the hydraulic cylinder which was controled by two speed valve, which was composed of a solenoid valve and a orifice. Indoor experiments were conducted to evaluate response characteristics of the designed implement control system under experimental conditions of various engine nm, two kinds of input flow rates of the cylinder and some input frequency. The results of experiments showed the response characteristics sufficient to use as the implement control system fur agricultural tractors.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.427-438
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• 1998

In Korea, rotary implements are mainly utilized in the tillage operation. The attitude control system for rolling phenominon of tractors, which in caused due to uneven ground surfaces and sinkage of tractor wheels, is one of the most important control systems in agricultural tractors. The attitude control system of a rotary implement, attached on tractors, was designed and fabricated in this study. The control system was largely composed of four main units; a setting unit, a detection unit, a controller and a hydraulic unit. The implement was controlled by control signals from a computer proportional to controlled errors, on/off action of two directional solenoide valve and lift cylinder on the right lift rod. Response characteristic experiments for the control system fabricated in this study were carried out indoors and outdoors. The results of experiments showed the response characteristics sufficient to use as the attitude control system of rotary implements for agricultural tractors.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.229-238
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• 2015

This study was conducted to develop electronic control system of weeding implement that can operated at various areas such as slope land and inclined road side. The weeding implement consists of five main parts; the electronic control system, the hydraulic system, the main frame, the boom and arm mechanism, and the rotary type weeder. And the weeding implement was developed to be attached by three-point hitch of tractor considering the use of electronic control system. As a result, the electronic control test was conducted with the weeding implement attached to tractor in slope land. The results of the electronic control system test showed satisfactory weeding performance.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.168-180
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• 1989

This study was attempted to develop the electronic-hydraulic hitch control system for position control of tractor plow and investigate the control performance of the system through experiments. Experiments were carried out to investigate the responses of the system to the step and sinusoidal inputs in position control. The effects of control mode, hydraulic flow rate, reference deadband, and proportional constant on control performance of the system were investigated. The following conclusions were derived from the study; 1. For the position control system operated on on-off control mode, positions of implement were controlled within ${\pm}0.73^{\circ}{\sim}{\pm}1.46^{\circ}$ in rockshaft angle to the reference position when the hydraulic flow rates were 5~15 l/min. For the position control system operated on PWM control mode, positions of implement were controlled within ${\pm}0.73^{\circ}$ to the reference position regardless of hydraulic flow rates. It means that the implement could be positioned more accurately to the reference position on PWM control mode than on on-off control mode. 2. As results of the frequency responses of the position control systems, no clear difference in control performance between on-off control and PWM control modes was found. As the hydraulic flow rates increased, the corner frequencies of amplitude attenuation and phase-angle change increased. It means that the control performance of the system could be improved as the hydraulic flow rate increases.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10d
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• pp.166-168
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• 2006

This paper presents a speed control of AC servo system using LabVIEW program and cRIO (Compact RIO)hardware which is a real-time controller made in National Instruments company. LabVIEW is a GUI programming language easy to implement control system and cRIO is a reconfigurable hardware platform which is very simple. Therefore Lab VIEW and cRIO will be excellent tools to design and implement control system.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.199-208
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• 1993

This study was attempted to develop the eletronic-hydraulic hitch system for controlling the attitude of tractor implements and to investigate control performance of the system through experiments. Main components of the system developed in this study were reference inputs panel, inclination angle detecter, electronic controller consisted of IBM-AT PC and interfaces, electro-hydraulic directional valves and other hydraulic components and three-point hitch linkage. Experiments were carried out to investigate the response of the system to the step and sine inputs. The effects of hydraulic flow rate and dead band on control performance were analized. Attitude of the implement was controlled within 2.4-5.1 degrees to the setting attitude when the hydraulic flow rate was in the range of $0.25-1.5{\ell}/min$. And implement was controlled without rapid amplitude attenuation and phase angle change in the frequency range of 0.02-0.2Hz when the hydraulic flow rate was in the range of $0.25-1.5{\ell}/min$. Control performance of the system can be expected to be improved if the inclination angle detecter show rapid and stable output as the implement moves.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2001

The advance of computer, network, and Internet technology enables the control systems to process the massive data in the distributed computing environments. To implement and maintain the software in distributed environment, the component-based methodology is widely used. This paper proposes the middleware architecture for the distributed computer control system. With the proposed middleware services, it is relatively easy to maintain compatibility between products and to implement a portable control application. To achieve the compatibility between heterogeneous systems, the proposed architecture provides the communication protocols based on the XML with lightweight event-based service.