This document describes the development of an automated tool for attaching support wires in hop gardens. It discusses the manual process for attaching wires, a patented automated system, and research to optimize the automated prototype. Sensors were added to measure hydraulic and PLC signals during operation. Data was analyzed using LabVIEW and Scilab to improve efficiency. Testing showed the optimized prototype could attach wires faster over a larger area than manual attachment. Further work will focus on additional sensors, software testing, and diagnostic tools.

1. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 1
Bavarian State Research Center
for Agriculture
Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor
Institute for Agricultural Engineering and
Animal Husbandry
Development of a diagnostic tool for
performance analysis during the testing of
agricultural implements
Data acquisition and automated data analysis
illustrated by the example of the prototype for
automated attachment of the supporting wires in hop
gardens
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Hop production – state of the art
● Germany: aproximately 18 000 ha
cultivated area under hop
● Predominantly 7 or 8 m high trellis
systems
● Annual replacement of the supporting
wires (1.2 – 1.4 mm thick iron wire)
● Manual fastening of the support wire:
– 3 workers-platform 12 man-hours and
3 tractor-hours per ha
– 2 workers-platform 15 man-hours and
5 tractor-hours per ha
● Problems during manual fastening:
– Accident risk
– Ergonomically very uncomfortable task
– Dependent on the weather conditions
21.05.2015
Gobor-ILT 5-15002 2

2. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 2
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Automated attachment of the supporting wires
● The private limited company Soller (Geisenfeld, Germany) protected
the idea by a patent in 2002
● A joint project (2008-2010) funded by the German Federal Agency for
Food and Agriculture (BLE) was realised
– Main task – optimisation of the system and development of a new
prototype based on the gained insights
● A joint project (2014-2016) funded by the German Federal Agency for
Food and Agriculture (BLE) and Rentenbank within the DIP (Agricultural
Innovation Partnership) programme
– Main task –improvement of the existing prototype and the necessary
diagnostic tools in order to produce the zero series device
21.05.2015
Gobor-ILT 5-15002 3
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Design of the device – optimisation and
development
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Subsystem for positioning
Subsystem for wire attaching
Intermediate storage of the wire
External hydraulic power supply unit

3. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 3
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Design of the device – optimisation and
development
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(1) Telescopic leader mast
(2) Subsystem for wire attaching
(3) Intermediate storage of the wire
(4) Wire coil
(5) External hydraulic power supply unit
(6) Subsystem for positioning
(7) Electrical cabinet with embedded
programmable logic controller (PLC)
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Hydraulic parameters and PLC signals acquisition
● Phase 1
– Compact modular data logging system NI cDAQ-9172
– Pressure sensors MBS 3250 060 G1 869 (Danfoss)
– Turbine flow sensor RE 4 (Hydrotechnik)
– Software solution for data acquisition (LabVIEW)
– 9 AI (pressure + flow rate)
– up to 27 DI (PLC signals)
– 2 counters
● Phase 2
– NI cRIO-9033 Controller With 1.33 GHz Dual-Core CPU, 160T FPGA
with NI Linux RT
– Up to: 18 AI (pressure, flow rate); 32 DI (PLC signals); 2 counters
– Test bench; prototype; zero series machine
– Software (LabVIEW Real Time and FPGA)
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Gobor-ILT 5-15002 6

4. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 4
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software phase 1 (concept)
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Core 1
Core 2
Producer - Consumer
Data streaming NIUSB -> PC
Data logging
State machine
Enqueue
DequeueFIFO
States:
•Initialise
•Configure
•Load configuration
•Save configuration
•Measure
•Stop
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software for data acquisition - Front panel (HMI)
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5. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 5
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software - Front panel (measurement)
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Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
TDMS file in Excel
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● File format with similar footprint and precision as a binary file
(combination of binary and XML data)
● Self descriptive structure with three-level hierarchy: file-specific
information; meta-data; row-data
● Data streaming - segmented or writing at once into the TDMS
file depending on the required speed and amount of data

6. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 6
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Semi-automated off–line data analysis (Scilab)
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● Scilab function for direct reading of the TDMS files not available
● Intermediate steps: open in MS Excell, save as XLS and read
with xlsread or xls_open in Scilab
● Developed function allows automated analysis considering
defined parameters and graphical and statistical analysis by
simply entering the TDMS (XLS) file name into the function
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5MNtrRoVmo
Twisting
WireattachingSubsystemup
Wire attaching cycle simulation
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Wirefeedingslow
(wirepreparation)
Cutting
Wirefeedingmidd
WireattachingSubsystemdown
Benderup
Benderdown
Wirefeedingfast

7. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 7
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Measurement results before optimisation–
hydraulic parameters and PLC signals
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Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Optimisation - hydraulic power unit with 2 pumps
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Pump 1
− Vertical Positioning
− Horizontal Positioning
− Intermediate storage
(recharging)
Pump 2
− Cutter
− Wire attaching
− Positioning of the
subsystem
− Wire feeding
− Twining
− Cutting
− Bending

8. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 8
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Results – duration of selected wire attaching
sequences
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2009 2011
Area capacity
0.21 – 0.23 ha/h
Average operating
speed 1.45 – 1.65 km/h
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Measurement results after optimisation–
hydraulic parameters and PLC signals
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Gobor-ILT 5-15002 16

9. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 9
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Hydraulic parameters and PLC signals acquisition
● Phase 1
– Compact modular data logging system NI cDAQ-9172
– Pressure sensors MBS 3250 060 G1 869 (Danfoss)
– Turbine flow sensor RE 4 (Hydrotechnik)
– Software solution for data acquisition (LabVIEW)
– 9 AI (pressure + flow rate)
– up to 27 DI (PLC signals)
– 2 counters
● Phase 2
– NI cRIO-9033 Controller With 1.33 GHz Dual-Core CPU, 160T FPGA
with NI Linux RT
– Up to: 18 AI (pressure, flow rate); 32 DI (PLC signals); 2 counters
– Test bench; prototype; zero series machine
– Software (LabVIEW Real Time and FPGA)
21.05.2015
Gobor-ILT 5-15002 17
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software aproach 1: LabVIEW with embedded
Scilab code
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Core 1
Core 2
Producer - Consumer
Data streaming NIUSB -> PC
Data logging
State machine
Enqueue
Dequeue

10. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 10
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software approach 2: Multicore
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Core 1
Core 2
Producer - Consumer
Data acqisition
Data logging
Core 3
Core 4
Online analyse
Data streaming
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software HMI (concept)
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System diagnosticsProcess simulation

11. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 11
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Considerations 1: LabVIEW to Scilab Gateway
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Source: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/de/nid/210055 (20.05.2015)
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Considerations 2: LabVIEW MathScript RT Module
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Source: http://www.ni.com/labview/mathscript/ (20.05.2015)

12. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 12
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software HMI (concept)
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Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Hardware: NI cRIO-9033
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Source: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/212720 (20.05.2015)

13. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 13
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Software (LabVIEW FPGA+RT)
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Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Test bench (simulator) in order to allow
development of the software without
necessity to test it directly on the machine:
– FPGA RT Controller: NI cRIO-9033
– Simulator of the manual HMI
– Universal simulator of the main
actuators and sensors
Development of a test bench
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14. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 14
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Development of a test bench
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Testing:
Testing of the
manual control (simulator
of the manual HMI)
Testing of the
actuators and sensors
considering vertical
positioning
1
5 6
4
2
3
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Conclusions
● Using contemporary design and analysis tools (acquisition of
relevant parameters combined with automated analysis, digital
prototyping and capturing of high-speed videos) allowed faster
and more reliable development
● The analysis of the oil pressure, flow and PLC signals
provided new insights in the dynamics of the system and a
new prototype with external hydraulic power unit was
developed
● Logging and analysis of the PLC and sensor signals
provided information (start and end of single operation, required
time for execution of single operation, duration of every wire attaching
cycle, time required for headland turn and failure correction) for
further improvement of the system
● Development of the test bench will allow more easier and
faster development of the software for diagnostic
inspection
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15. Presented on SCILABTEC2015 Paris (France) 02.06.2015
(c) Dr.-Ing. Zoltan Gobor; Bavarian State Research Center for
Agriculture Freising (Germany) 15
Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
Improvement possibilities
● The developed data acquisition system can and will be
used for performance analysis and diagnostic
inspection in case of outage
● Communication between the cDAQ an PLC using OPC need
to be tested (jitter)
● Possibility to integrate additional signals from the tractor
using e.g. CAN bus need to be discussed
Comprehensive testing and improvement of the
system will be continued
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Institute for Agricultural Engineering
and Animal Husbandry
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Gobor-ILT 5-15002 30
21.05.2015
http://www.lfl.bayern.de/ilt/mechatronik/index.php