Pneumatic seed delivery system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10448561-B2
Application number	US-201715499341-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2017
Priority date	Apr 27, 2017
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A pneumatic seed delivery system is provided for use with planter for row-crop planting an agricultural field in which the pneumatic seed delivery system may use high pressure air to accelerate seeds that are singulated from a seed meter to match ground speed when planting. The pneumatic seed delivery system includes an air accelerator arranged downstream of a release location of the seed meter. The air accelerator may define a pneumatic device such as an air conveyor or air amplifier that merges a primary airflow with a controllable supplemental airflow to provide a correspondingly controllable combined airflow that carries and accelerates the singulated seeds so that the seeds can be released with a rearward horizontal seed velocity component that approximates a forward ground speed of the planter to reduce seed tumble.

First claim

We claim:

1. A pneumatic seed delivery system for use with a planter having multiple row units and a seed meter to singulate seeds at each row unit, the pneumatic seed delivery system comprising:
a pneumatic speed adjusting arrangement configured for controlling a seed velocity of seeds that are released from a release location of the seed meter of the planter for delivery onto an agricultural field so that a horizontal seed velocity component of the seed velocity of the seeds delivered matches a ground speed of the planter, the pneumatic speed adjusting arrangement including,
an air accelerator arranged downstream of the release location of the seed meter, the air accelerator including:
an accelerator body that defines an interior and includes:
an accelerator inlet at a first end toward the seed meter;
an accelerator outlet at a second end toward a seed tube, the seed tube having a seed tube outlet arranged downstream of the air accelerator for releasing seeds traveling at the seed velocity toward the agricultural field;
a primary passage that extends longitudinally through the accelerator interior from the inlet of the accelerator body to the outlet of the accelerator body with a primary airflow entering the inlet of the accelerator body and flowing through the primary passage to carry the seed through accelerator body; and
at least one supplemental passage that connects to the primary passage for delivering the supplemental airflow toward the primary airflow within the primary passage;

an air inlet pressure sensor in communication with the at least one supplemental passage and configured to measure an initial air pressure of the supplemental airflow;
a seed velocity sensor adjacent an output of the seed tube, the seed velocity sensor configured to measure the speed of velocity of the seeds released from the seed tube; and
a control system operatively connected to the air inlet pressure sensor and the seed velocity sensor, the control system adjusting the air pressure of the supplemental flow in response to the initial air pressure of the supplemental airflow and the seed velocity such that the horizontal component of the seed velocity substantially matches the ground speed of the planter.

2. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental airflow combines with the primary airflow to provide a combined airflow that flows out of the accelerator outlet to deliver the seed into the seed tube.

3. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 2 , wherein the air accelerator comprises an air conveyor that includes at least one port that defines the at least one supplemental passage with the at least one port extending angularly inward toward and connecting to the primary passage and downstream toward the accelerator outlet.

4. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one port includes multiple ports that are circumferentially spaced from each other about the accelerator body.

5. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 4 , further comprising a distribution chamber defined within the accelerator body that is concentrically spaced outwardly of the primary passage with the distribution chamber receiving the supplemental airflow and distributing the supplemental airflow for delivery through the multiple ports.

6. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 2 , wherein the air accelerator comprises an air amplifier that includes at least one port that defines the at least one supplemental passage with the at least one port extending radially inward toward and connecting to the primary passage.

7. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one port defines a ring-shaped port that extends circumferentially about the primary passage.

8. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 7 , further comprising a distribution chamber defined within the accelerator body that is concentrically spaced outwardly of the primary passage with the distribution chamber receiving the supplemental airflow and distributing the supplemental airflow for delivery through the ring-shaped port.

9. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 2 , wherein the air accelerator is arranged between the seed meter and the seed tube.

10. The pneumatic seed delivery system of claim 2 , wherein the seed meter defines a seed meter outlet downstream of the release location and wherein the accelerator body is arranged at least partially within the seed meter outlet.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Schoeny Christopher
• Johnson Chad M

Classifications

• A01C7/105

  Seed sensors · CPC title

• A01C7/082

  Ducts, distribution pipes or details thereof for pneumatic seeders · CPC title

• A01C7/206 Primary

  Seed pipes · CPC title

• A01C7/102 Primary

  Regulating or controlling the seed rate · CPC title

• A01C7/044

  Pneumatic seed wheels · CPC title