The present invention relates generally to agricultural equipment, and, more particularly, to an agricultural product delivery system on an application implement, such as a planter, seeder or fertilizer application equipment, for applying particulate material such as seed, fertilizer, herbicide or insecticide in a field, either as a surface application or deposited in the soil to improve soil quality.
Agricultural product delivery systems are known to utilize various mechanisms, including mechanical and/or pneumatic systems, i.e., a flow of air, to assist in the delivery and movement of particulate material or product such as fertilizer, seed, insecticide or herbicide from a product supply chamber through an interior passage provided by a series of elongate tubes which extend from the product supply chamber to a product applicator that places the product on or in growing medium, such as soil. Such agricultural product delivery systems are commonly employed in planters, air drills, fertilizer and pesticide applicators and a variety of other agricultural implements.
Agricultural implements that employ an agricultural product delivery system are known to have a particulate material supply source such as one or more tanks that are loaded with the particulate material or materials to be applied. The tanks have or are associated with a metering device, which typically consists of a rotating element, which meters the particulate materials from the tanks into a set of distribution channels, such as conduits, hoses, etc., for application to the farm field. In most systems, a pneumatic source such as a fan or blower provides air to convey and distribute material through the distribution channels. Once the metering of particulates is done and the mix of air and particulates is in the distribution channels, the solid concentration should remain nearly constant and in dilute phase.
Systems as described have provided certain advantages and have worked acceptably in some aspects, but are not without disadvantages, inefficiencies or inconveniences. For example, it is desirable to use a material supply source, such as a tank, with different applicator equipment by, for example, coupling the tanks with a planter for planting seed, and later coupling the same tank equipment with an applicator for applying needed pesticides and/or fertilizer.
However, with pneumatic conveying or delivery systems, the pressure drop across various portions of the delivery system can often result in different rates of the particulate material being dispensed from different supply lines and associated nozzles. It is often difficult to equalize airflow between parallel supply lines fed by the same air flow source, or fan as the supply lines may have different air flow resistances caused for various reasons within the supply lines. As a result, the air flow is often directed to the supply line with the least resistance, i.e., preferential flow, when the metering devices for the supply lines cease injecting particles into the supply lines, such as for sectional control, or injecting particles at a reduced rate, such as for turning compensation. Alternatively, as a result of its position or configuration, the air flow source/fan may simply direct air flow primarily towards one side of the conveying system.
What is needed in the art is a pneumatic agricultural product conveying system which improves efficiency and convenience of the applicator without further complicating its construction and that provides a more even distribution of the air flow from the air flow source across all supply lines and nozzles of the system.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an applicator includes an agricultural product pneumatic conveying system which transfers particulate material from one or more source containers to application equipment on demand, and meters the material at the application equipment. The system includes a number of individual distribution channels or supply lines that are each interconnected with a number of product storage chambers within a tank. An air flow device is connected to a plenum that directs the air flow from the fan to the various supply lines that are connected to the plenum in order to allow particulate material collected in the supply lines from each of the chambers to be mixed within the supply lines while being directed to different sections of the booms extending outwardly from the applicator. The individual supply lines connected between the air flow source and each section of the booms enable the lines to maintain a relatively constant, static pressure along the entire section, thus providing an independently controllable distribution stream of the particulate material across each section.
When resistance is encountered in one or more of the supply lines during operation of the pneumatic conveying system, the plenum additionally includes a dynamic baffle system disposed within the plenum. The dynamic baffle system directs the air flow towards a supply line detected as having increased resistance to the air flow in order to equalize the air flow into each of the supply lines. The baffle system accomplishes this by obstructing a portion of the air flow towards a supply line having less resistance to the air flow and concurrently re-directing the obstructed portion of the air flow into the supply line with higher air flow resistance. The operation of the dynamic baffle system can continue until the air flow resistance within the supply lines is equalized, at which time the dynamic baffle system is reconfigured to allow equal air flow to all supply lines.
According to another aspect of the invention, agricultural product delivery system, is provided including at least one particulate material supply compartment, a number of delivery units for applying particulate material from the supply compartment and a pneumatic conveying system providing a mixed flow of particulate material from the at least one particulate material supply compartment to the particle delivery units, the conveying system including an airflow source, a number of supply lines each operably connected to the airflow source at one end, to the at least one particulate material supply compartment and to at least one of the particle delivery units at the opposite end and a dynamic baffle system disposed between air flow source and the number of supply lines.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a dynamic baffle system for a pneumatic agricultural product delivery system including an air flow source and a number of supply lines is provided including a plenum interconnected between the air flow source and the number of supply lines and at least one baffle rotatably mounted within an interior of the plenum.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method of delivering a number of agricultural products from a number of compartments containing the number of products to a number of particle delivering units applying the particles in a field includes the steps of supplying the number of agricultural products from the number of compartments to the pneumatic conveying system of claim 1, adjusting the air flow equally though the number of supply lines using the at least one dynamic baffle system, mixing the agricultural product in the pneumatic conveying system to form a mixed product, conveying the mixed product to the particle delivering units and applying the mixed product in an agricultural field.
Numerous additional objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description taken together with the drawing figures.
The drawings illustrate the best mode of practicing the present disclosure.
In the drawings:
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
Fertilizer applicator 10 is illustrative of the types of equipment for which the pneumatic conveying system 100 can be used; however, it should be understood that the pneumatic conveying system 100 may, of course, be employed in conjunction with other agricultural equipment such as tillage, seeding or planting devices, and is useful in distributing particulate material other than fertilizer.
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To collect and drive the particulate material along the lines 102, in the illustrated embodiment one or more fans 110 are operably connected to the plenum 104 opposite the lines 102. The air flow from the fans 110 is directed from the fans 110 through the plenum 104 and into the respective lines 102 as a result of the structure of the plenum 104. After the air flow passes through the one or more plenums 104 connected to the one or more fans 110 and collects/entrains the particulate material from the compartments 64-70 in a manner to be described, the air flow continues to flow along each of the four (4) large diameter lines 102 that make approximately a 90° turn to connect to the booms 14, 16.
In order to spread the particulate material/product over/onto the center section over which the machine 10 passes, a large line 102 must move product to the rear nozzles 50-58 where there is no interference by the machine 10 on the spread pattern. To accomplish this a line 102 carrying only air is added on the side of the machine 10 and has a forward section 105 that extends from the plenum 104 to the front of the machine 10. At the front of the machine 10, one particular line 102 turns 180° and has a rearward section 109 that passes beneath the compartments 64-70 where the line 102 collects the particulate material/product and transports the product to the nozzles 50-58 at the rear of the machine 10.
In a different configuration the line 102 which carries air to the front could be placed between the frame rails (not shown) of the machine 10 or in any other suitable location that can accommodate the line 102. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment two large diameter lines 102 are stacked vertically on top of each other in order to provide more rigidity to the support structure formed by the lines 102 upon reaching the booms 14,16. However, this configuration could be changed to a horizontal arrangement of the lines 102 which would result in less bends and a more uniform nozzle height along the booms 14,16.
Referring now to
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Looking now at the exemplary embodiment of
When air flow resistance is generally equal in both supply lines 102, and/or when air flow from the fan 110 is directed evenly between the supply lines 102, the dynamic baffle 122 remains neutral on the center axis in the configuration of
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Conversely, in a situation where unequal resistances in the lines 102 causes line 102 connected to outlet 144 to have the most airflow and outlet 138 to have the least, the air flow differential operates to rotate the dynamic baffle 122′ counter-clockwise due to the added force of the surplus airflow on rearward vane 134′. This rotation position the forward vane 128′ of baffle 122′ in a position to re-direct more airflow in conjunction with the rearward vane 132′ to the outlet 140. The added airflow to outlet 140 consequently causes the dynamic baffle 122 to rotate counter-clockwise due to the added force caused by the surplus airflow to outlet 140 on the rearward vane 134 of the baffle 122. This rotation positions the forward vane 128 on the baffle 122 to redirect flow with the rearward vane 132 to the outlet 138. The position of the baffles 122, 122′ in the system 120 will reach equilibrium when the forces exerted by the air flows on either side of each of the dynamic baffles 122 and 122′ are equal, though the actual forces acting on each baffle 122, 122′ may not be equal, as shown in
In an alternative embodiment of the baffle system 120, as illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of
The opposed end 163 of the spring 156 extends outwardly away from the shafts 124, 124′ and contacts a stop 164 that is disposed on the exterior of the plenum 104 but is spaced from the shafts 124, 124′. The stop 164 prevents the spring 156 from spinning with the shafts 124, 124′, such that any rotation of the baffle 122,122′, and thus the shafts 124, 124′, is directly opposed by the force of the spring 156. The amount of force exerted on the shafts 124, 124′ by the spring 156 is tailored to enable the shafts 124, 124′ to rotate when a sufficient air flow differential between outlets 138, 140 and/or 144 is sensed by the baffle(s) 122, 122′ within the plenum 104. In the exemplary embodiment of
In an additional exemplary embodiment, the dampening mechanism 150 can be a mechanical mechanism that can be operated to move the baffles 122 and/or 122′ in any embodiment to a desired position to alter the air flow within the plenum 104 in a desired manner. In this embodiment, the dampening mechanism 150 can be selectively operated by an operator to adjust the system 120 to provide the desired airflow, which may or may not be a balanced air flow between the outlets 130, 140 and/or 144 based on the ability of the mechanical dampening mechanism 150 to position the baffles 122, 122′ at locations where the air flow determined by the baffles 122, 122′ is not balanced.
While the pneumatic and/or mechanical conveying system 100 disclosed so far herein have been primarily with respect to fertilizer application equipment or applicator commonly referred to as a “floater”, it should be understood that the advantages from the pneumatic and/or mechanical conveying system 100 disclosed herein can be obtained on other types of equipment for applying particulate materials/product in a field. Sowers of various types, such as a planter, drill or seeder, are known to include an applicator unit, such as a drill or seeder, and may include an air cart having one or more bulk tanks carrying fertilizer and/or seeds to be planted or sown. The pneumatic conveying system 100 disclosed herein can be provided on the planter, and one or more air/seed inductors on the air cart. If the air cart is then used with a planter of a different type, or with another type of particle application equipment, adjustments to the pneumatic conveying system 100 can be made without the need to adjust the air/seed inductor assembly on the air cart. Accordingly, switching from one crop to another crop or from one planter to another planter does not require major adjustment of the air/seed inductor assembly on the air cart.
In using a pneumatic conveying system 100 as disclosed herein, a variety of materials can be applied by a variety of different implements. The particulate material to be applied is contained in one or more compartments. The particulate material or materials are supplied from the tanks to the pneumatic conveying system 100 wherein the material or materials are conveyed to one or more particle injectors while being intermixed with one another. At the particle injector the conveyed product or products are provided in a metered flow and transferred to one or more particle delivery units, which can be a broadcast spreader, seeder for depositing seeds or other materials across the surface of soil, a row opener unit for depositing seeds or other material in rows, or the like.
Various other alternatives are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.
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