Disc harrow with gang plugging detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10765052-B2
Application number	US-201716317262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2017
Priority date	Jul 25, 2016
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

A disc harrow implement has gang assemblies each having aligned disc gangs carried by a support bar. Each disc gang has disc blades spaced along an axis of the disc gang. The disc gangs of each gang assembly are coaxially aligned to create a line of substantially equally spaced disc blades. A plugging detection system alerts an operator if one or more of the disc gangs are rotating at a rotational speed that is slower than rotational speeds of the remaining disc gangs. The plugging detection system includes a gang rotation sensor for each of disc gangs. Each gang rotation sensor is configured to measure the rotational speed of the connected disc gang. A control module compares the rotational speed of each disc gang to the rotational speed of the disc gangs and generates an output that indicates when a disc gang is rotating more slowly that the other disc gangs.

First claim

At least the following is claimed:

1. An agricultural disc harrow implement comprising:
a main frame;
at least one gang assembly, each gang assembly comprising:
a support bar attached to the main frame and extending substantially the length of the gang assembly;
a plurality of disc gangs aligned along the length of the support bar, wherein each of the plurality of disc gangs comprises a rotating disc gang shaft that is supported on the support bar and a plurality of disc blades, the disc blades being substantially equally spaced along an axis of the disc gang, wherein the disc gangs of each gang assembly are coaxially aligned to create a line of substantially equally spaced disc blades; and
a plugging detection system configured to alert an operator if one or more of the disc gangs are rotating at a rotational speed that is slower than rotational speeds of the remaining disc gangs, the plugging detection system comprising a gang rotation sensor for each of the plurality of disc gangs on each of the at least one gang assemblies configured to measure the rotational speed of the connected disc gang and a control module that compares the rotational speed of each disc gang to the rotational speed of the remaining disc gangs.

2. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of spacer spools between adjacent disc blades configured to maintain a desired spacing of the disc blades along the disc gang, wherein the gang rotation sensor for each of the plurality of disc gangs is received into one of the spools along the disc gang.

3. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 2 , wherein the gang rotation sensor is a wireless sensor mounted in the spool.

4. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 3 , wherein the wireless gang rotation sensor transmits the rotational speed of the disc gang to the control module.

5. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one gang assemblies has three disc gangs.

6. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 1 , wherein each disc gang is mounted to the support bar with a spring and a bearing, and wherein the gang rotation sensor for each of the plurality of disc gangs is integrated with the bearing.

7. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 6 , wherein the gang rotation sensor is connected to the control module via a wire that runs along the spring.

8. A method for operating a disc harrow implement, wherein the disc harrow implement has at least one gang assembly comprising a plurality of disc gangs, and wherein each disc gang mounts a plurality of disc blades, the method comprising:
measuring the rotational speed of each of the disc gangs with gang rotation sensors;
transmitting the rotational speed of each of the disc gangs to a control module;
comparing the rotational speeds of each of the disc gangs using the control module; and
displaying an alert if one of the disc gangs is rotating at a speed that is a determined amount slower than other of the disc gangs.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein measuring the rotational speed of each of the disc gangs comprises measuring the rotational speed of each of the disc gangs with gang rotation sensors disposed in one of a plurality of spacer spools configured to maintain spacing of the disc blades along the disc gang.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein transmitting the rotational speed of each of the disc gangs to a control module comprises transmitting the rotational speed wirelessly from the gang rotation sensors to the control module.

11. An agricultural disc harrow implement comprising:
a plurality of disc gangs carried by a support bar, wherein each disc gang of the plurality comprises a rotating disc gang shaft supported by the support bar and having a plurality of disc blades, wherein the disc blades are substantially equally spaced along an axis of the disc gang shaft, wherein the disc gangs are coaxially aligned to create a line of substantially equally spaced disc blades; and
a plugging detection system comprising:
a plurality of gang rotation sensors, each gang rotation sensor configured to detect a rotational speed of one of the plurality of disc gangs; and
a control module configured to compare the rotational speeds of each disc gang of the plurality to the rotational speeds of other disc gangs of the plurality.

12. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of spacer spools between adjacent disc blades and configured to maintain the substantially equal spacing of the disc blades along the disc gang, wherein the gang rotation sensor for each of the plurality of disc gangs is disposed in one of the spools along the disc gang.

13. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 12 , wherein each gang rotation sensor comprises a wireless sensor mounted in the spool.

14. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 13 , wherein each wireless sensor is configured to transmit the rotational speed of a respective disc gang to the control module.

15. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of disc gangs comprises three disc gangs extending substantially a length of the support bar.

16. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 11 , wherein each disc gang of the plurality is mounted to the support bar with a spring and a bearing.

17. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 16 , wherein each gang rotation sensor is integrated with a respective bearing.

18. The agricultural disc harrow implement of claim 16 , wherein each gang rotation sensor is connected to the control module via a wire that runs along a respective spring.

Assignees

• Agco Corp

Inventors

• Degarmo Rye

Classifications

• Y02P60/20

  Reduction of greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions in agriculture, e.g. CO2 · CPC title

• A01B21/08 Primary

  with disc-like tools · CPC title

• A01B35/32

  with special additional arrangements · CPC title

• A01B35/28

  Rotating tools; Mounting rotating tools · CPC title