Signal processing method for impact-based grain mass flow sensor with parallel beam load cell

Impact-based grain mass senor is a key component of the yield monitoring system, but it is sensitive to the environmental vibration. An impact-based grain mass sensor with parallel beam load cell was designed by the optimization method. Techniques to process the output signal of this sensor were covered in this paper. A dynamic compensation for sensor output was introduced firstly in order to improve the dynamic response of sensor that is generally defective only with the mechanical damping treatment to the load cell. Then an adaptive notch filter was developed to eliminate the disturbance with changeable frequency. Finally, the way to dynamically calculate the zero point of sensor was provided so that the field terrain cannot exert any effect on the yield measurement. The experimental results show that these algorithms were effective, and the error was within 10% when the field test was carried out in Luancheng.