Methods of analyzing one or more agricultural materials, and systems thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12566121-B2
Application number	US-202218554724-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2022
Priority date	May 20, 2021
Publication date	Mar 3, 2026
Grant date	Mar 3, 2026

Abstract

A system may analyze agricultural materials. The system may include one or more inlets receiving the agricultural materials. The agricultural materials may be a slurry (e.g., soil slurry) including at least one solid and at least one liquid. The system may include a chamber configured to house the agricultural materials. The chamber may include a mixing device configured to mix the agricultural materials. The system may include a flow control device configured to stop the flow of the agricultural materials in a first state, or move the flow of the agricultural materials in a second state. The system may include an agricultural materials density device configured to determine the density of the agricultural materials when the flow of the agricultural materials is stopped in the first state and when the flow of the agricultural materials is moving in the second state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for analyzing one or more agricultural materials comprising: a chamber receiving an agricultural material, the agricultural material comprising a solid; the chamber comprising a mixing device configured to mix the solid with a liquid to form a slurry; and a measurement device configured to measure electrical conductivity of the solid within the slurry, the electrical conductivity of the solid being used to determine a characteristic relating to the solid within the slurry, wherein the measurement device is a particle density measurement device configured to measure a density of the solid in the slurry via the electrical conductivity measurement wherein the solid is a soil sample and the liquid is water which defines a soil slurry: wherein at least one of a plurality of electrodes is placed on opposing sides of a flow of the slurry in spaced relationship within a flow conduit, each of the at least one of the plurality of electrodes being configured to measure electrical conductivity in contact with a respective side of the flow of the slurry: and wherein the flow conduit and chamber are integral fluidic parts of a closed slurry recirculation flow loop which comprises a recirculation pump configured to circulate the slurry through the flow conduit and chamber.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement device comprises an electrical conductivity sensor comprising the plurality of electrodes immersible in the slurry and configured to determine the electrical conductivity of the soil within the slurry.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement device is configured to determine the electrical conductivity of soil within the slurry via one or more sensing techniques comprising at least one of electrical current flow, electrical conductivity, electro-magnetic induction, electrical resistivity, time domain reflectometry, amplitude domain reflectometry, or frequency domain reflectometry.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic relating to the solid within the slurry is useful in agriculture.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the characteristic is soil nutrient information relating to the solid of the agricultural material.

6 . The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a system controller operably coupled to the measurement device, the system controller being configured to determine a characteristic relating to the solid within the slurry.

7 . A method for analyzing one or more agricultural materials comprising: receiving an agricultural material comprising a solid and a liquid in a chamber of a mixing device; mixing the solid and liquid to form a slurry; determining, via a measurement device, electrical conductivity of soil within slurry; and determining a characteristic relating to the solid within the slurry from the measured electrical conductivity of the solid in the slurry, wherein the measurement device comprises an electrical conductivity sensor comprising a plurality of electrodes immersible in the slurry and configured to determine the electrical conductivity of the soil within the slurry; wherein at least one of the plurality of electrodes is placed on opposing sides of a flow of the slurry in spaced relationship within a flow conduit, each of the at least one of the plurality of electrodes being configured to measure electrical conductivity in contact with a respective side of the flow of the slurry; and wherein the flow conduit and chamber are integral fluidic parts of a closed slurry recirculation flow loop which comprises a recirculation pump configured to circulate the slurry through the flow conduit and chamber.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the solid is a soil sample and the liquid is water which defines a soil slurry.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the receiving step is preceded by a step of collecting the soil sample from an agricultural field.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the measurement device is a particle density measurement device configured to measure a density of the solid in the slurry via the electrical conductivity measurement.

11 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising determining, via the measurement device, the electrical conductivity of soil within the slurry via one or more sensing techniques comprising at least one of electrical current flow, electrical conductivity, electro-magnetic induction, electrical resistivity, time domain reflectometry, amplitude domain reflectometry, or frequency domain reflectometry.

12 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the characteristic is soil nutrient information relating to the solid of the agricultural material.

13 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising a system controller which performs the step of determining a characteristic relating to the solid within the slurry from the measured electrical conductivity of the soil in the slurry.

Assignees

• Prec Planting Llc

Inventors

• Levy Kent
• Harman Reid
• Seelye Joshua
• Vaccari Adam
• Litwiller Riley
• Koch Dale M

Classifications

• G01N9/00

  Investigating density or specific gravity of materials; Analysing materials by determining density or specific gravity · CPC title

• G01N27/07

  Construction of measuring vessels; Electrodes therefor · CPC title

• G01N33/24

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N27/414

  Ion-sensitive or chemical field-effect transistors, i.e. ISFETS or CHEMFETS · CPC title

• G01N27/333

  Ion-selective electrodes or membranes (glass electrodes G01N27/36) · CPC title