Agricultural sampling system and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021208037-A1
Application number	US-202117144093-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 7, 2021
Priority date	Jul 10, 2018
Publication date	Jul 8, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

An automated computer-controlled sampling system and related methods for collecting, processing, and analyzing agricultural samples for various chemical properties such as plant available nutrients. The sampling system allows multiple samples to be processed and analyzed for different analytes or chemical properties in a simultaneous concurrent or semi-concurrent manner. Advantageously, the system can process soil samples in the “as collected” condition without drying or grinding. The system generally includes a sample preparation sub-system which receives soil samples collected by a probe collection sub-system and produces a slurry (i.e. mixture of soil, vegetation, and/or manure and water), and a chemical analysis sub-system which processes the prepared slurry samples for quantifying multiple analytes and/or chemical properties of the sample. The sample preparation and chemical analysis sub-systems can be used to analyze soil, vegetation, and/or manure samples.

First claim

1 . A separation device for extracting a test material from an agricultural slurry, the device comprising:
a support housing; a stationary fluid exchange dock fixedly mounted to the housing, the fluid exchange dock comprising a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plurality of flow passages extending between the top and bottom surfaces; a motor drive mechanism; a rotary hub coupled to the motor drive mechanism, the rotary hub rotatable via operation of the motor drive mechanism, the rotary hub, the fluid exchange dock, or the rotary hub and the fluid exchange dock is movable between a docked position such that the fluid exchange dock and rotary tube hub are adjacent and an undocked position such that the fluid exchange dock and rotary tube hub are not adjacent; a test material extraction apparatus coupled to the rotary hub, the apparatus having a body; the body defining a plurality of fluidly isolated test material separation devices disposed around the body, each separation device comprising a plurality of fluidly interconnected fluid passageways and a sediment chamber which receive slurry from the fluid exchange dock; wherein when the rotary hub in the undocked position, rotating the apparatus via the drive mechanism separates a test material from the slurry.

2 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the fluid passageways have an irregular shape configured to cause the slurry to flow both radially and tangentially within the fluid passageways to separate the test material when the apparatus is rotated.

3 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the fluid passageways of each separation device includes a fluid inlet passageway, fluid outlet passageway, and a test material extraction passageway each fluidly coupled to its respective sediment chamber.

4 . The device according to claim 2 , wherein the fluid passageways of each separation device includes a fluid inlet passageway, fluid outlet passageway, and a test material extraction passageway each fluidly coupled to its respective sediment chamber.

5 . The device according to claim 3 , wherein each fluid passageway is fluidly connected separately to its respective sediment chamber and configured to form three discrete flow passages only fluidly interconnected via the sediment chamber.

6 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the passageways and sediment chamber of each separation device is recessed into a bottom surface of fluid plate and downwardly open before the fluid plate is coupled to the clamping plate.

7 . The device according to claim 2 , wherein the passageways and sediment chamber of each separation device is recessed into a bottom surface of fluid plate and downwardly open before the fluid plate is coupled to the clamping plate.

8 . The device according to claim 3 , wherein the passageways and sediment chamber of each separation device is recessed into a bottom surface of fluid plate and downwardly open before the fluid plate is coupled to the clamping plate.

9 . The device according to claim 4 , wherein the passageways and sediment chamber of each separation device is recessed into a bottom surface of fluid plate and downwardly open before the fluid plate is coupled to the clamping plate.

10 . The device according to claim 5 , wherein the passageways and sediment chamber of each separation device is recessed into a bottom surface of fluid plate and downwardly open before the fluid plate is coupled to the clamping plate.

11 . The device according to claim 6 , further comprising gasket disposed between the fluid plate and clamping plate which fluidly seals passageways and sediment chambers.

12 . The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of fasteners which detachably coupled the fluid plate to the clamping plate.

13 . The device according to claim 6 , wherein the fluid plate and clamping plate are permanently bonded directly together.

14 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the fluid plate and clamping plate each include a locking recess which is complementary configured to receive the rotary hub therein to form an interlocked arrangement.

15 . The device according to claim 14 , wherein the rotary hub comprises a plurality of radially extending arms received in the locking recesses.

16 . The device according to claim 14 , wherein the rotary hub is trapped between the fluid plate and clamping plate in the locking recesses.

17 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the upper fluid plate is formed of a polymeric material.

Assignees

• Prec Planting Llc

Inventors

• Swanson Todd
• Koch Dale
• Harman Reid

Classifications

• G01N35/1072

  with provision for selective pipetting of individual channels · CPC title

• G01N35/08

  using a stream of discrete samples flowing along a tube system, e.g. flow injection analysis · CPC title

• G01N2001/4061

  Solvent extraction · CPC title

• G01N1/4055

  by solubility techniques · CPC title

• G01N1/04

  in the solid state, e.g. by cutting · CPC title