Ultrasonic Sensor-Based Basecutter Height Control System of Sugarcane Harvester

Sugarcane is a perennial crop. The quality of cutting directly relates to the yield of sugarcane in the coming year. Precise control of the basecutter height can effectively reduce the stubble damage and increase production. However, the existing harvesters of the basecutter height control system failed to achieve the desired results in China. Therefore, an electric hydraulic control system was developed in this study to realize the automatic adjustment of basecutter height. In this paper, an ultrasonic sensor was used to measure the ground level, while an electromagnetic valves and hydraulic cylinder were used to control the height of the basecutter. Three single-factor experiments and a three-factor three-level orthogonal experiment were carried out on the mobile cutting platform. The results of single-factor experiments indicated that the error of cutting depth was positively correlated with forward speed and ground amplitude, but negatively correlated with ground wavelength. ANOVA of the orthogonal experiment results showed that forward speed and ground amplitude had statistically significant influence on the error of cutting depth, but the ground wavelength had statistically insignificant influence on it. The best parameters combination for good working performance of the machine was obtained with forward speed of 1 km h(-1), ground wavelength of 3 m and ground amplitude of 4 cm. The results of this study will provide a reference for engineers to design and optimize the automatic adjustment of basecutter height.