Patent Application
20180343790
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 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 pneumatic systems, i.e., a flow of an 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 an 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 at 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. This has been difficult due to the necessary metering systems for applying the different materials. With the metering device provided on the tank, it is necessary to adjust the metering device whenever the tank is used for supplying a different material. This can be time consuming and inconvenient if the metering device is underneath the tank.
While the use of a metering system can effectively distribute the different particulate material to the various distribution channels and nozzles of the applicator, the metering system itself is a complex mechanism that must be accurately operated in order to effectively distribute the particulate matter to each nozzle and to accommodate for operational changes including additional particulate material(s) to be dispensed and turning compensations, among others
What is needed in the art is an agricultural product conveying system which improves efficiency and convenience of the applicator without further complicating its construction.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an applicator includes an agricultural product mechanical 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 mechanical conveying system employs longitudinal mechanical distributors that operate to move, mix and meter the particulate material from one of the source containers or tanks along the mechanical distributor to a plenum. At the plenum the different types of particulate materials are further blended, such as within a particle injector, and delivered to the distribution nozzles for discharge from the applicator. The mechanical conveying system has a simplified construction and operation in comparison to prior art systems.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the mechanical conveying system can be configured to minimize the distance between the tanks or source containers and the particle injectors at one or both of the front and rear of the applicator to mix the various particulate material(s) with one another as the material is moved towards the plenums, thus negating the need for a separate mixing or metering system.
According to another aspect of the invention, an agricultural product delivery system includes at least one particulate material supply compartment, at least one particle delivery unit for applying particulate material from the supply compartment and a mechanical conveying system providing a metered flow of particulate material from the at least one particulate material supply compartment to the at least one particle delivery unit.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method of delivering a number of agricultural products from a number of compartment containing the number of products to a particle delivering unit applying the particles in a field includes the steps of supplying the number of agricultural products from the number of compartments to a mechanical conveying system, mixing the agricultural product in the mechanical conveying system to form a mixed product; conveying the mixed product to the particle delivering unit; metering the mixed product within the mechanical conveying system; 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 mechanical conveying system 100 can be used; however, it should be understood that the mechanical 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.
Looking now at
In the exemplary illustrated embodiment, the mechanical conveyors 102 take the form of one or more augers 104 that are disposed within one or more individual transport housing(s) 106 that encircle the auger(s) 104 along their length. The housing(s) 106 in exemplary embodiments can enclose one or multiple augers 104 and can generally conform to the shape of the augers 104 disposed for rotation therein. The housing(s) 106 are open at one end 107 in order to dispense the particulate material from the housings 106 for discharge through an adjacent portion of the booms 14, 16 or the rear nozzles 50-58. The housings 106 include apertures 108-114 located in alignment with each of the discharge mechanism(s) 101 for the compartments 64-70. The apertures 108414 enable particulate material from the compartments 64-70 to enter the housings 106 through the apertures 108-114 for movement by the augers 104 to the open ends 107 of each housing 106. In certain exemplary embodiments, the discharge mechanism(s) 101 for each auger 104 can extend the length of the tank 62, or can be formed of individual modules 103 (FIG, 5) disposed in alignment with the apertures 108-114 and operated by suitable operating mechanism such as electric motors 105 associated with each module 103 and controlled from the cab 60. In alternative embodiments the one or more conveyors 102 can be formed of other suitable mechanical conveyors 102, such as one Or more conveyor belts (not shown), among others, that are disposed within complementary shaped housings 106.
In the illustrated exemplary embodiment of
Looking now at the exemplary embodiment of
With reference now to
Further, the orientation of the augers 104 along with the particulate material A-D within the compartments 64-70, can block, any static pressure hum the fans 128 to avoid any product metering hesitation when using non-pressurized compartments 64-70 or tanks 62, further simplifying the construction of the system 100 while maintaining a constant feed of the particulate material A-D to the system 100.
Referring now to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG, 5, the booms 14, 16 are disposed more centrally on the applicator 10, as opposed to at the front of the applicator 10, as in
However, the augers 104 disposed on opposite sides of the central auger 10 are formed with reverse fighting on a forward portion 138 to transport material from the front compartment(s) 64 in a rearward direction to the particle injector 126 and a rearward portion 140 having regular fighting to transport material from the rear compartments 66-70 in a forward direction to the particle injectors 126. As the fighting on the forward portion 138 and on the rearward portion 140 are opposed, as the motor 118 drives the gear mechanism 116 connected to the multiple augers 104, rotation of the forward portion 138 and the rearward portion 140 drives the particulate material from each of the compartments 64-70 towards the particle injector 126 for dispensing the particulate material via the booms 14, 16.
The configuration of the augers 104 enables the particulate material from each compartment 64-70 to be metered using one or both of the discharge mechanism on each compartment 64-70 and the rotational speed of the auger(s) 104. In this manner, the rate of dispensing the particulate material from the forward portions 134 and rear portions 136 of the booms 14, 16 can be varied simply by altering the rotational speed of the associated auger 104 to allow for sectional control and/or turning compensation without the need for any additional electrical and/or mechanical metering system or device. Further, the augers 104 effectively mix the particulate material from the various compartments prior to reaching the particle injector 126,127, which provides additional mixing to the particulate material prior to discharge from the nozzles 18-58.
Further, similarly to the embodiment of
While the mechanical conveying system 100 disclosed so far herein have been primarily with respect to mechanical fertilizer application equipment or applicator commonly referred to as a “floater”, it should be understood that the advantages from the mechanical conveying system 100 disclosed herein can be obtained on other types of equipment for applying particulate materials in a field. Planters of various types 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. The mechanical conveying system 100 disclosed herein can be provided on the planter, and one or more inductor 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 mechanical conveying system 100 can be made without the need to adjust the 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 inductor assembly on the air cart.
In using a mechanical 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 mechanical 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 unit, 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 arc contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.
