Seed delivery apparatus and method for delivering seed

IS 2 380 313 T3

DESCRIPTION

Seed supply apparatus and method of supplying seeds

The present invention relates to a seed dispenser apparatus for use with the seed dispenser, the seed dispenser apparatus receiving sequentially seeds discharged individually from the seed dispenser, the seed dispenser apparatus comprising: a housing with an upper opening for receiving seeds from the seed dispenser, a lower opening through which the seed is discharged, and a wall having an inner surface extending between the upper and lower openings; a movable member that grabs the seed and moves it along the inner surface of the wall to transport the seed to the lower opening, wherein the seed supply apparatus comprises a seed sensor mounted on the wall of the housing, to along which the seed moves, to detect the passage of the seed through the housing and produce an output signal in response thereto. The invention further relates to a respective method of supplying seeds.

An agricultural seeder machine, such as a row crop planter or a cereal planter, places the seeds at a desired depth within a plurality of parallel seed trenches formed in the soil. In the case of a row crop planter, a plurality of row crop units are typically driven into the ground using wheels, shafts, sprockets, transfer cases, chains and the like or are powered by electric or hydraulic motors. Each row crop unit has a frame that movably attaches to a toolbar. The frame can carry a main seed hopper, a herbicide hopper and an insecticide hopper. If herbicides and insecticides are used, the dosing mechanisms associated with dispensing the granular product into the seed trench are relatively simple. On the other hand, the mechanisms necessary to properly dose the seeds and dispense the seeds at predetermined relative locations within the seed trench are relatively complicated.

The mechanisms associated with the dosing and placement of seeds can generally be divided into a seed dosing system and a seed placing or delivery system that are in serial communication with one another. The seed metering system receives the seeds in a bulk manner from the seed hopper carried by the planter frame or by the row unit. Different types of seed dosing systems can be used, such as seed plates, finger plates, seed discs, belts, etc. In the case of a seed disk dosing system, a seed disk is formed with a plurality of seed cells spaced around the periphery of the disk. The seeds move into the seed cells with one or more seeds in each seed cell depending on the size and configuration of the seed cell. A positive or vacuum air pressure differential can be used in conjunction with the seed disk to aid movement of the seeds into the seed cell. The seeds are singled out and discharged sequentially at a predetermined rate in the seed delivery or placement system.

The most common seed delivery system can be categorized as a gravity drop system. In the case of the gravity drop system, a seed tube has an inlet end that is positioned below the seed metering system. The singled out seeds from the seed metering system merely fall into the seed tube and fall under the force of gravity from a discharge end thereof into the seed trench. Surveillance systems are commonly used to monitor planter performance. Such systems typically employ a seed sensor attached to each seed tube to detect the passage of seed through it. Seed sensors are readily available from a number of sources, including Dickey-john Corporation, and an example of these is described in US Patent No.

4,555,624. As described, the photosensor consists of one or more light emitting diodes and one or more photosensitive elements mounted generally on opposite sides of the seed tube. A seed passing through the tube momentarily partially obscures the light falling on one or more photosensitive elements, thus producing a momentary change in the sensor's normal state signal level output or rating.

Another seed delivery system is disclosed in EP 0 158 985 A2 showing a mechanism for discharging granular material, especially seeds and fertilizers, and having a reservoir and seed flow regulators through which variable amounts can be delivered. of material to the ground, to which end a sensor that detects the amount of material or a number of grains of material discharged through that device is positioned in the vicinity of at least one flow regulator. To improve the sensor's detection of the amount or number of material grains, a flow accelerator accelerates the material grains toward the sensor between the flow regulator and the sensor.

Associated with the above-mentioned provisions are various problems that affect the accuracy of the surveillance system. One problem is dust and dirt that is sucked into the seed tube when the planter is operated. Another problem is the degree of ambient light in the seed tube. The higher the ambient light, the more difficult it is to detect the seeds. To counteract the effects of dirt, dust and light, the sensors have been located near the top of the seed tube, away from the outlet opening.

ES 2 380 313 T3 lower. However, this allows a greater opportunity for a variation in the path traveled by the seed to occur after it has passed the sensor, affecting the accuracy of the seed spacing determinations by the monitor.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a seed supply apparatus of the type mentioned above which overcomes one or more of said problems.

The object of the invention will be achieved by the teachings of claims 1 and 7. Furthermore, advantageous embodiments are defined within the dependent claims.

According to the invention, a seed supply apparatus of the type mentioned above is provided with a sensor having an emitting portion that emits electromagnetic radiation and a receiving portion that receives at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation and produces an output signal. proportional to the amount of radiation received, and electromagnetic radiation passes through the wall. The wall may have front and rear wall portions spaced with a connecting side wall portion, with the seed moving along the inner surface of the side wall portion and both the sensor emitting and receiving portions being mounted on the portion. side wall. The front and rear wall portions may comprise a connecting side wall portion, the seed moving along the inner surface of the side wall portion and the sensor emitting portion and the sensor receiving portion mounted opposite each other. one to the other at the front and rear wall portions, adjacent to the side wall portion. At least one of the emitting portion and the receiving portion of the sensor is positioned in an opening in the wall of the housing. The receiving portion of the sensor may have a plurality of receiving elements for locating the position of a through seed laterally relative to the housing. The seed supply apparatus further comprises an accelerometer for measuring the acceleration of the apparatus and thus the acceleration of the seed moving along the inner surface of the wall.

A method of supplying seeds from a seed meter to the ground, comprising the steps of: receiving the seed from the seed meter in a housing having a wall with an inner surface; move the seed on the inner surface while applying to the inner surface; with a sensor having an emitting portion that emits electromagnetic radiation and a receiving portion that receives at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein the sensor is mounted on the wall; and detect the passage of the seed along the wall; and producing an output signal proportional to the amount of radiation received and the electromagnetic radiation passing through the wall; and download the seed from the accommodation.

The present invention is a seed delivery apparatus that captures and traps the seed from the seed feeder and physically moves the seed from the feeder to the lower outlet opening. By doing this, the seed is applied to an inner surface of the seed supply apparatus and travels along it. By placing the seed sensor on the wall of the housing, the seed passes directly in front of the sensor. The sensor preferably has the light emitting devices and the photosensitive elements on the same wall as the delivery apparatus.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a planter having the seed supply apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of a row unit of the planter of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged side view of the seed supply apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the sensor mounted in an opening in the side wall of the delivery apparatus;

Figure 5 is a graph of the sensor output signal as a function of time;

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the photosensitive elements of the sensor; and Figure 7 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment with the sender and receiver of the sensor mounted on opposite walls.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example planter or seeder 10 is shown containing the seed supply apparatus of the present invention. Planter 10 includes a toolbar 12 as part of a planter frame 14. Mounted on the toolbar are multiple row planter units 16. Row units 16 are typically identical for a given planter, but there may be differences. A row unit 16 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2. Row unit 16 is provided with a central frame member 20 having a pair of upwardly extending arms 21 (not shown) at the forward end of the same. Arms 21 connect to parallelogram linkage 22 to mount row unit 16 on tool bar 12 for relative up and down movement between unit 16 and tool bar 12 in a known manner. The seed is stored in seed hopper 24 and

ES 2 380 313 T3 provides a seed dispenser 26. The seed dispenser 26 is of the type that uses a disc and an air pressure differential to retain the seed on the disc, such as those that are well known for dispensing seeds. Other types of dispensers can also be used.

The individual seeds are dosed sequentially by the seed meter 26 and delivered to a seed supply apparatus 28 for supplying the seed to a planting furrow or ditch formed in the soil by furrow openers 30. Gauge wheels 32 control the depth of the furrow. Closing wheels 34 close the trench over the seed. Gauge wheels 32 are mounted on frame member 20 by means of arms 36. The toolbar and row unit are designed to move across the ground in a forward working direction identified by arrow 38.

The row unit 16 further includes a chemical hopper 40, a row cleaner attachment 42, and a downward force generator 44. The row unit 16 is shown as an example of the environment in which the supply apparatus is used. the present invention. The present invention can be used in any of a variety of types of planting machines such as, but not limited to, row crop planters, cereal seeders, aerial seeders, etc.

Referring to Figure 3, the seed supply apparatus 28 is shown in greater detail. This supply apparatus 28 includes a housing 48 positioned adjacent the seed disk 50 of the seed dispenser. Seed disk 50 is a generally flat disk with a plurality of openings 52 adjacent to the periphery of the disk. The seeds 56 are collected in the openings by taking them from a seed reservoir and are attached to the disk under the effect of an air pressure differential on opposite sides of the disk 50 in a known manner. The disk may have a flat surface in the openings 52 or have embedded seed cells surrounding the openings 52. The disk rotates clockwise when viewed in Figure 3, as shown by arrow 54 . At the top of Figure 3, the seeds 56 are shown adhering to the disk.

The housing 48 of the seed supply apparatus has front and rear walls 49 and 51 spaced from each other and a side wall 53 between them. An upper opening 58 in the side wall 53 of the housing admits the seeds from the seed meter into the housing. Pulleys 60, 62 mounted within housing 48 support a movable member shown as belt 64 for rotation within the housing. One of the pulleys 60, 62 is a drive pulley, while the other pulley is an idler pulley. The belt has a base portion 66 for engaging the pulleys and elongated bristles 70 extending therefrom. The bristles are attached to the base member at the proximal or radially inner ends of the bristles. The distal or radially outer ends 74 of the bristles contact, or are close to contact, with the inner surface 76 of the side wall 53 of the housing. A lower housing opening 78 is formed in the side wall 53 and is positioned as close to the bottom of the seed trench as possible. As shown, bottom opening 78 is near or below ground surface 82 adjacent to the trench. The side wall of the housing forms an exit ramp 84 at the lower opening 78. The ramp 84 can be shorter or longer than shown and can also be curved.

Turning attention to the upper portion of Figure 3, a loading wheel 86 is disposed adjacent the upper opening 58. The loading wheel is positioned on the side of the seeds 56 opposite the brush 64, such that the trajectory of the seeds in the disk lead the seeds into a pinch zone 88 formed between the load wheel and the distal ends 74 of the bristles 70. The bottom surface of the load wheel facing the seed disk 50 has recesses 90 formed therein. The recesses 90 receive seed agitators 92 protruding from the seed disk 50. The moving agitators, in engagement with the recesses of the load wheel, drive the load wheel with a counterclockwise rotation.

The seed is captured by the supply apparatus 28 to remove the seed from the seed dispenser. The seed is then moved by the seed apparatus to the seed discharge point, where the seed is discharged from the housing in the seed trench. From the seed dispenser to the discharge, the seed is trapped by the bristles of the brush and the side wall 53 of the housing. The movement of the seed from the upper opening 58 to the inner opening 78 is controlled by the delivery apparatus, thus maintaining the spacing of the seeds relative to each other. The accelerometer 120 is attached to the housing or located elsewhere in the row unit 16 to measure the acceleration of the delivery apparatus. Since the seed is trapped in the bristles of the brush as it moves to the lower opening, the acceleration measurement of the row unit or housing will be the acceleration of the row itself. Other details of the dispensing apparatus, as well as variations in the arrangement of the dispensing apparatus and the orientation of the dispensing apparatus in the row unit and relative to the seed dispenser are shown in U.S. Patent Application No. 12 / 364,010. , filed February 2, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference.

As shown in Figure 3, the side wall 53 is divided by the upper and lower openings 58, 78 into two segments 53a and 53b. Segment 53a is between the upper and lower openings in the belt travel direction, while segment 53b is between the lower and upper openings in the belt travel direction. It is the interstices in the side wall 53 that form the upper and lower openings.

ES 2 380 313 T3 lower. However, it should be understood that the delivery apparatus will function without the side wall segment 53b. It is only segment 53a that works in conjunction with the belt bristles to supply the seed from the dispenser to the seed trench. Thus, the term "top opening" should be interpreted to mean an open area before the side wall segment 53a in the direction of belt travel and the term "bottom opening" should mean an open area after the side wall segment 53a in the direction of belt travel. The terms "front", "rear" and "side", as used in connection with the wall portions of the housing, are used only to differentiate between the wall portions and are not used to describe their relative locations.

A seed sensor 102 is arranged on the side wall 53a. The seed sensor has two portions, an emitter 104 and a receiver 106. The emitter emits electromagnetic radiation, eg light, a portion of which is reflected back to the receiver. In a preferred embodiment wall 53a has at least one portion that is transparent or translucent to allow electromagnetic radiation to pass through. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 4, the side wall 53a may have an opening 55 in which the sensor lens 108 is seated so that the sensor forms a smooth continuation of the inner surface 76 of the side wall 53a. It is important that the inner surface 76 provides a smooth surface so that the seed 56 travels along it and no gaps are formed that can damage the seed or the seed coat.

During operation, with the brush bristles 70 passing through the sensor, most of the radiation from emitter 104 is absorbed by the brush bristles and is not reflected back to receiver 106. As a result, absent a seed, noise from background received by receiver 106 is relatively low. In contrast, when the seed 56 passes the sensor, the reflected electromagnetic radiation is much louder than the background noise, producing a large spike in the signal. This is shown in the graph in Figure 5 with the large peaks 112 relative to the background noise 110. The large signal-to-noise ratio is a result of the brush bristles absorbing, not reflecting, radiation and also the Bristles of the brush retain the seed against the inner surface 76 of the side wall 53 such that the seeds pass immediately in front of the sensor 102. This is in contrast to a conventional seed tube in which the seed can pass through the sensor at any location within the interior of the seed tube.

The use of the movable member 64 also produces other benefits in detecting the seeds. The presence of the bristles 70 within the supply apparatus blocks light from entering the supply apparatus through the lower opening 78. Furthermore, dust and other debris cannot be drawn into the supply apparatus by the vacuum used. in the seed dispenser, as is commonly the case with currently used seed tubes. This allows the seed sensor to be located quite low in the housing, near the bottom opening. However, because the seed is carried by the movable member 64 through the delivery apparatus, the spacing between adjacent seeds is controlled and maintained as the seeds move from the upper opening to the discharge opening. This allows the seed sensor 102 to be located anywhere along the seed path between the upper and lower openings, as there is no opportunity for the seed path to change with movement of the row unit. .

Receiver 106, as shown in FIG. 6, may be equipped with a plurality of photosensitive receiving elements 116 laterally spaced along the width of wall 53a. This may allow a sensor 102 to not only detect a seed, but also to detect the lateral location of the seed within the delivery apparatus, that is, the position of the seed relative to the front and rear walls 49, 51. This lateral position information can be helpful in determining a final seed position in the seed trench.

The sensor mounts to the side wall by any of a variety of means. The sensor can be clamped to the housing, bolted to the housing, secured by plastic ties, secured in support structures formed in the housing, etc. Furthermore, the side wall can be made of a material, such as plastic resin, that allows the sensor to work through the side wall, or the side wall can be formed with an opening in which the sensor is positioned. The term "mounted on" as used in the claims is to be broadly construed to include all of the foregoing.

The moving member of the delivery system has been described as a bristle brush belt. In a broad sense, the bristles form an outer periphery of contiguous disjoint surfaces that pick up and grasp the seed. Although brush bristles are the preferred embodiment and can be natural or synthetic, other types of material can be used to grasp the seed, such as a foam pad, expanded foam pad, mesh pad, or fiber pad. etc.

Having described the preferred embodiment, it will be apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.