Patent Grant
10232939
The present disclosure relates to aircraft seed broadcasting, and, more particularly, to modularized systems, and related apparatus and methods to provide aircraft mounted seed broadcasting without structural modifications to the aircraft.
Potential advantages associated with aerial seeding or sowing are well-known in the agricultural industry. However, in spite of the potential, systems for aerial seeding are not well designed to exploit those advantages. Existing systems fall into generally two categories: systems based on crop dusting technology utilizing modifications to nozzle/sprayer systems intended primarily for liquids/pesticide application, and passive systems that utilize buckets, chutes or similar structures and which rely primarily on the turbulence surrounding the aircraft in motion to distribute the seeds.
One challenge in creating an effective aerial seeding system is that in most countries modifications to licensed aircraft, such as airplanes and helicopters, must be approved by a governmental agency to ensure safety and airworthiness. In the United States, the agency is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Under FAA regulations, not just modification, but also addition of equipment must meet stringent approval requirements. Thus, while the patent literature contains numerous different design proposals for seeding systems, few of these are practical or even useable due to the fact that they require either an entirely new aircraft or extensive changes, additions or modifications to be mounted and flown in an existing aircraft.
In one implementation, the present disclosure is directed to an aircraft seed broadcasting system that includes a seed hopper configured and dimensioned to be insertable through a door frame of an aircraft and mountable to pre-existing aircraft mounting points; a broadcasting head configured and dimensioned to be mounted to an underside of the aircraft fuselage below the seed hopper to broadcast seeds received from hopper; and a power supply system configured to drive the broadcasting head.
In another implementation, the present disclosure is directed to an aircraft seed broadcasting system that includes a seed hopper comprising plural separable members each configured and dimensioned to be insertable individually through a passenger door frame of an aircraft, assembled into the seed hopper within the aircraft and mounted to existing passenger seat and seatbelt attachment points; a broadcasting head comprising a body defining a seed plenum leading to a motor driven rotating distribution disk, the body configured and dimensioned to be mounted along a centerline on an underside of the aircraft fuselage below the assembled and mounted seed hopper to receive seeds from the hopper; and power supply components configured to provide aircraft supplied power to the motor driven rotating distribution disk.
In yet another implementation, the present disclosure is directed to a method of installing a seed broadcasting system in an aircraft. The method includes removing an aircraft passenger seat from a passenger space; inserting a seed hopper through an aircraft passenger door into the passenger space; forming at least one hole through a non-structural fuselage skin portion on the bottom of the aircraft in the passenger space; mounting the seed hopper to pre-existing mounting points in the passenger space with a feed chute extending through the at least one hole in the fuselage skin; mounting a seed broadcasting head including a motor driven rotating distribution disk on an underside of the aircraft fuselage in a position to communicate with the feed chute through the at least one hole to receive seeds therefrom; and connecting a broadcasting hydraulic system to a hydraulic pump driven by an accessory drive to power the motor driven rotating head.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the drawings show aspects of one or more embodiments disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that the inventions embodied in this disclosure are not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, wherein:
Embodiments disclosed herein provide a system for aerial broadcasting of seeds or other similar materials in modular form to facilitate installation and removal from the aircraft. Also disclosed are methods for installing such a modular system without altering airworthiness. Modules may generally comprise a seed hopper, broadcasting head and hydraulic supply components. In one embodiment disclosed herein, as shown in
Components of disclosed embodiments may be readily fabricated from aviation quality materials and incorporated into the aircraft with a minimum of alteration to the aircraft. In one illustrative example, an embodiment of the disclosed system is installed in a four-place R-44 series helicopter by the Robinson Helicopter Company as shown in the present figures. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the disclosed system may be readily adapted to other aircraft types without significant changes. While persons of ordinary skill may adapt embodiments disclosed herein to virtually any aircraft, aircraft most suited for use with embodiments of the invention include fixed wing or helicopter aircraft with a passenger space/seat positioned behind the pilot position, enterable by at least one passenger door. To facilitate installation and minimize aircraft alterations, attachment points for system components may solely comprise preexisting aircraft mounting points, such as seat support structure and seatbelt attachments. In the illustrated example, hopper 10 is mounted in the rear passenger compartment with attachment points encompassing all six of the seat belt hard points to secure the unit.
As described in more detail below and shown in
As illustrated in
To install hopper 10, the rear seat of the aircraft is removed and hopper mounting stringer 30 is bolted to the existing seat support structure as shown in
Hopper 10 may be constructed from six sub-panels. Hopper bottom 32, including generally pyramid-shaped feed chutes 34A, 34B, is bolted to stringer 30 through bolt holes 36 as shown in
Hopper bottom 32 may be constructed out of 0.040 2024-T3 aluminum and riveted together with MS20470AD4-4 rivets. The attachment points and the four angles that encompass the perimeter of the panel are constructed from 6061T6 aluminum. There are four one inch angles which have twenty-two MS21075-08L nut plates riveted in place on a five inch spacing pattern to provide attachment points for the four vertical side panels of the hopper to attach to. Three panels, rear wall 40, forward wall 42 and starboard wall 44, are shown in
Attachment brackets 55A, 55B are each attached to hopper 10 and to the aircraft rear seatbelt top attachment points. As best seen in
In order to provide communication between hopper 10 within the aircraft cabin, and broadcasting head 12 located under the fuselage, two holes are cut in a non-structural portion of the fuselage belly skin under each passenger rear seat to receive the outlets of each of feed chutes 34A, 34B (
As shown in
Materials passing through doors 68A, 68B are received in head body 60 and delivered to distribution disk 56 through plenum 72 as shown in
In one exemplary embodiment, the components of broadcasting head 12 may be constructed out of 6061 aluminum and fastened together with grade 5 hardware. Hydraulic motor 58 that drives distribution disc 56 (
Provision of electrical controls for the system disclosed may create as few as two electrical impacts to the aircraft. The first electrical impact is a solenoid-type switch controlling the flow of the hydraulic fluid from pump to pump and pump to tank. The second electrical impact is actuator 74 that opens and closes the gravity-fed doors 68A, 68B. In the R-44 exemplary embodiment shown, the solenoid switch may be a 12 volt solenoid-type switch with a 5 amp circuit breaker, and the actuator may be a 12 volt linear actuator with a 10 amp circuit breaker.
With a system thus designed, it is possible to maintain weight and balance within the standard limits aircraft CG and gross weight parameters, both with the system fully loaded and completely empty. In the exemplary embodiment of the R-44 helicopter shown in the figures, the entire system installed weighs approximately 91.0 pounds.
The foregoing has been a detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the invention. It is noted that in the present specification and claims appended hereto, conjunctive language such as is used in the phrases “at least one of X, Y and Z” and “one or more of X, Y, and Z,” unless specifically stated or indicated otherwise, shall be taken to mean that each item in the conjunctive list can be present in any number exclusive of every other item in the list or in any number in combination with any or all other item(s) in the conjunctive list, each of which may also be present in any number. Applying this general rule, the conjunctive phrases in the foregoing examples in which the conjunctive list consists of X, Y, and Z shall each encompass: one or more of X; one or more of Y; one or more of Z; one or more of X and one or more of Y; one or more of Y and one or more of Z; one or more of X and one or more of Z; and one or more of X, one or more of Y and one or more of Z.
Various modifications and additions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Features of each of the various embodiments described above may be combined with features of other described embodiments as appropriate in order to provide a multiplicity of feature combinations in associated new embodiments. Furthermore, while the foregoing describes a number of separate embodiments, what has been described herein is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. Additionally, although particular methods herein may be illustrated and/or described as being performed in a specific order, the ordering is highly variable within ordinary skill to achieve aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, this description is meant to be taken only by way of example, and not to otherwise limit the scope of this invention.
Exemplary embodiments have been disclosed above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions and additions may be made to that which is specifically disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/199,688, filed on Jul. 31, 2015, and titled “Aircraft Seed Broadcasting Apparatus,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3476337 | Cornett, Jr. | Nov 1969 | A |
| 3944137 | Cutchins et al. | Mar 1976 | A |
| 3968933 | Waldrum | Jul 1976 | A |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2105828 | Jun 1992 | CN |
| 1069847 | Mar 1993 | CN |
| 2585813 | Nov 2003 | CN |
| 100429971 | Nov 2008 | CN |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170029109 A1 | Feb 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62199688 | Jul 2015 | US |
