The Design and Research of the Bolt Loosening Monitoring System in Combine Harvesters Based on Wheatstone Bridge Circuit Sensor

Yi Lian, Bangzhui Wang, Meiyan Sun, Kexin Que, Sijia Xu, Zhong Tang () and Zhilong Huang
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Yi Lian: School of Transportation Engineering, Jiangsu Shipping College, Nantong 226010, China
Bangzhui Wang: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Meiyan Sun: School of Transportation Engineering, Jiangsu Shipping College, Nantong 226010, China
Kexin Que: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Sijia Xu: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Zhong Tang: School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Zhilong Huang: School of Transportation Engineering, Jiangsu Shipping College, Nantong 226010, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-31

Abstract: The combine harvester, as a multi-component machine comprising a cutting table, a conveyor, a threshing cylinder, and other components, experiences significant stress and bolt failures in cutting table-conveyor structures due to inherent excitation and the cutting table’s cantilevered design. To address bolt loosening monitoring in the critical joint, this paper designed a Wheatstone bridge circuit-based wireless monitoring system and a multi-channel Wheatstone bridge sensor, enabling multi-bolt monitoring on combine harvesters. Utilizing LoRa wireless communication, the system effectively overcomes the wiring complexity and deployment difficulties of traditional agricultural machinery bolt monitoring systems. The Wheatstone bridge sensor can precisely monitor pre-tightening forces up to 150 kN for M12–M24 bolts. A calibration test based on dynamic time warping (DTW) accurately fitted the sensor’s response to pressure and displacement with determination coefficients of 0.9780 and 0.9753. Then, a validation test focusing on connection bolts revealed a 95.12% overlap between the simulated measurement range and the calibration range under pre-tightening conditions. Furthermore, fitting curves for simulated measurements against tightening torque and angle yielded coefficients of determination of 0.9945 and 0.9939, which demonstrated accurate fitting of pre-tightening conditions and defined the monitoring range of 3.02 × 10 12 to 3.49 × 10 12 . Finally, combined with simulation results, a field performance test confirmed the sensor’s ability to detect minute 5% pre-load reductions, achieve 200 ms data transmission to a host computer, and maintain lossless data transmission over 1.2 km. This sensor and system design provided a valuable reference for bolt loosening monitoring in combine harvesters and other agricultural machinery.

Keywords: bolt loosening; failure monitoring; monitoring system; combine harvester; data fitting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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