Method for Controlling the Smooth Running of a Coulter Unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026013422-A1
Application number	US-202318880866-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 6, 2023
Priority date	Jul 6, 2022
Publication date	Jan 15, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for controlling the smooth running of a coulter unit comprising a seed coulter, a running wheel, which, in order to generate a seed furrow, is pressed onto an agricultural area via the seed coulter with an adjustable coulter pressure onto an agricultural utilizable area and, via the running wheel, is moved at a travel speed over the agricultural utilizable area, wherein a coulter force acting on the coulter unit is measured.

First claim

1 . MA method for controlling smooth running of a coulter unit comprising a seed coulter, and a running wheel, wherein the method comprises: pressing the running wheel via the seed coulter with an adjustable coulter pressure onto an agricultural area in order to generate a seed furrow, and moving the running wheel over the agricultural area at a travel speed, during which a coulter force acting on the coulter unit is measured, wherein the coulter force is captured over a measuring interval to determine a coulter force curve over time and a bandwidth of the coulter force curve is used as a controlled variable for controlling the smooth running.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth is determined from the difference between a maximum coulter force and a minimum coulter force of the coulter force curve.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the smooth running is controlled via a control loop comprising a controlled system with the coulter pressure as manipulated variable.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein a limit value of the bandwidth is used as a reference variable of the control loop, which is compared with the bandwidth to determine a control deviation.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the control deviation is fed to a controller in which a value of the coulter pressure is formed as a control variable.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one parameter of the utilizable area and/or the travel speed and/or at least one coulter parameter are taken into account as disturbances.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a limit value of the coulter force and/or the travel speed are used as a condition for the controller.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the limit value of the bandwidth and/or the limit value of the coulter force are stored in a driving mode and are set by selecting the driving mode.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the coulter pressure is increased to improve the smooth running if the bandwidth is greater than the limit value of the bandwidth and the coulter force is less than or equal to the limit value of the coulter force.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a deceleration signal for reducing the travel speed is generated if the coulter force is greater than the limit value of the coulter force.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein an acceleration signal for increasing the travel speed is generated if the coulter force is smaller than the limit value of the coulter force and the bandwidth is smaller than the limit value of the bandwidth.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the coulter force curve is cached in a cache memory.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measuring interval is set.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the coulter force is measured via a force sensor arranged on a rotation axis of the running wheel.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the coulter unit is swiveled about a swivel axis to adjust the coulter pressure.

16 . The method according to claim 15 , wherein the coulter unit further comprises a swivel support extending along the swivel axis, on which one or more coulter units are arranged.

17 . A Sowing machine for spreading seed with several coulter units, each coulter unit comprising a seed coulter for generating a seed furrow in an agricultural utilizable area, a running wheel, via which the coulter units are movable at a travel speed on the agricultural utilizable area, force sensors for measuring a coulter force acting on the coulter units, and a control unit for controlling the smooth running of the coulter units,
wherein the smooth running is controlled in accordance with the method of claim 1 .

18 . The sowing machine of claim 17 , wherein the force sensors measure a coulter force acting on the running wheels.

Assignees

• Amazonen Werke H Dreyer Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Henke Christian
• Koch Jens

Classifications

• A01C5/064

  with rotating tools · CPC title

• A01C7/205 Primary

  comprising pressure regulation means · CPC title

• A01C5/06 Primary

  Machines for making or covering drills or furrows for sowing or planting · CPC title