Method and apparatus for measuring area traversed by vehicular implement

摘要

A system for indicating area traversed by a vehicular implement has a ground speed sensor for generating ground speed pulses at a frequency which is a function of the implement ground speed; a pulse generator for deriving fixed width pulses from said ground speed pulses; an integrator for accumulating the fixed width pulses to derive a positive slope dc signal whose instantaneous magnitude is an analog of distance traveled by the implement; a comparator for comparing the analog signal to a reference signal whose magnitude is an inverse function of the width of path traversed by the implement and for providing an output signal when the former becomes equal to the latter, whereby the output signal indicates that the implement has traversed an area equal to the distance traveled multiplied by the path width; and a counter for registering and displaying the number of output signals as an indication of area traversed. Preferably the width of the pulses applied to the integrator can be selectively varied by the implement operator to compensate for difference in gear ratios or wheel and tire sizes of different implement models.