Sensing and control of liquid application using an agricultural machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11944046-B2
Application number	US-201816054182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2018
Priority date	Aug 3, 2018
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

An agricultural machine applies liquid material to a field. Valve control signals control valves to apply the liquid material. Row pressure on the agricultural machine is sensed to identify when the valve is opened to apply the liquid material. The valve control signals are generated, based on the row pressure, to control the valves to apply the liquid material at a desired location in the field, relative to plant locations in the field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An agricultural machine, comprising:
a liquid reservoir that stores liquid to be applied to a field over which the agricultural machine is traveling;
a supply line that defines a supply conduit;
a plurality of valves disposed along the supply line, each valve having an inlet end and an outlet end and being controlled to pulse between an open position and a closed position by a pulsed control signal;
a pump system that pumps the liquid from the liquid reservoir along the supply line to the inlet ends of the plurality of valves;
a plurality of nozzles, at least one nozzle corresponding to each valve so that when the corresponding valve is open, the liquid flows through the valve to the corresponding nozzle;
a plurality of row pressure sensors each sensing pressure at the outlet end of one of the plurality of valves and generating a corresponding row pressure signal indicative of the sensed pressure;
pulse characteristic sensing logic that receives the row pressure signal from each row pressure sensor and identifies a pulse characteristic indicative of a liquid pulse provided by the corresponding valve in the open position, based on the row pressure signal, and generates a valve pulse characteristic signal indicative of the pulse characteristic;
a pulsed valve control signal generator that generates the pulsed control signal based on the valve pulse characteristic signal;
time delay logic configured to:
receive the pulsed control signal and the valve pulse characteristic signal;
identify an open time delay between the pulsed control signal generating a valve open signal controlling the valve to open and the valve pulse characteristic signal indicating that the valve is in the open position; and
identify a close time delay between the pulsed control signal generating a valve close signal controlling the valve to close and the valve pulse characteristic signal indicating that the valve is in the closed position; and

seed/chemical correlation logic configured to identify plant locations in die field and control timing of the pulsed control signal based on the identified plant locations, the seed/chemical correlation logic comprising:
a pulse frequency controller configured to generate a pulse frequency control signal to control a frequency of the pulsed control signal based on the plant locations in the field the open time delay and the close time delay.

2. The agricultural machine of claim 1 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic comprises:
a pulse duration controller configured to generate a pulse duration control signal to control a pulse duration of the pulsed control signal based on the plant locations in the field over which the agricultural machine is traveling, the open time delay and the close time delay.

3. The agricultural machine of claim 1 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic comprises:
a valve control signal generator configured to generate a pulse control signal to control a timing characteristic of the pulsed control signal based on the plant locations in the field over which the agricultural machine is traveling, the open time delay and the close time delay.

4. The agricultural machine of claim 3 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic is configured to synchronize the pulsed control signal with the plant locations to apply the liquid at the plant locations.

5. The agriculture machine of claim 4 and further comprising:
valve row flowrate identifier logic configured to identity a valve row flowrate for each valve based on a valve orifice size and the row pressure signal from the corresponding row pressure sensor.

6. The agricultural machine of claim 5 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic is configured to synchronize the pulsed control signal with the plant locations to apply a desired amount of liquid based on the valve row flowrate.

7. The agricultural machine of claim 5 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic is configured to generate a pump control signal to control liquid pressure based on a travel speed of the agricultural machine to apply a desired amount of the liquid.

8. The agricultural machine of claim 1 and further comprising:
a supply line pressure sensor configured to identify pressure in the supply conduit and generate a supply line pressure signal indicative of the sensed pressure in the supply conduit; and
row pressure identifying logic configured to identify a pressure drop across a given valve based on the row pressure signal and the supply line pressure signal.

9. The agricultural machine of claim 8 wherein the supply line press pressure sensor comprises:
a plurality of supply line pressure sensors, the row pressure identifying logic identifying the pressure drop across the given valve based on the row pressure signal and the supply line pressure signal generated from a closest one of the supply line pressure sensors to the row pressure sensor.

10. The agricultural machine of claim 8 and further comprising:
a valve blockage detector configured to identify a valve blockage condition for the given valve based on the pressure drop across the given valve.

11. The agricultural machine of claim 1 and further comprising:
a seed sensor configured to sense seed presence during a planting operation and generate a seed signal indicative of the sensed seed presence.

12. The agricultural machine of claim 11 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic comprises:
a seed location identifier configured to identify the plain locations in the field based on the seed signal.

13. The agricultural machine of claim 11 wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic comprises:
a seed pattern identifier configured to identify a seeding pattern indicative of the plant locations based on the seed signal.

14. The agricultural machine of claim 3 Wherein the seed/chemical correlation logic is configured to correlate the pulsed control signal with the plant locations to apply the liquid between the plant locations.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Wonderlich Grant J
• Herrmann Kenneth
• Steele Michael C
• Wolff Kilian
• Pruessmann Gerrit

Classifications

• A01G25/165 Primary

  Cyclic operations, timing systems, timing valves, impulse operations · CPC title

• B05B1/08

  of pulsating nature, e.g. delivering liquid in successive separate quantities · CPC title

• B05B9/0423

  for supplying liquid or other fluent material to several spraying apparatus · CPC title

• B05B9/06

  the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle, e.g. the pump being driven by a vehicle wheel · CPC title

• B05B12/085

  responsive to flow or pressure of liquid or other fluent material to be discharged (B05B1/3006, B05B1/323 take precedence; spray pistols designed to control volume of flow with the controlling means being fluid actuated B05B7/1254) · CPC title