Down and/or up force adjustment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686901-B2
Application number	US-201414547651-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2014
Priority date	Apr 27, 2011
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

An agricultural device includes a number of row units that each includes a seed furrow opener that creates a furrow in the soil for seed placement. Each row unit is mounted to a toolbar of the device by way of a four-bar linkage which allows each row unit to move vertically to adjust to the contour of the soil independently of the other row units on the same toolbar. The four-bar linkages include one or more springs which work to transfer weight from the toolbar to the row unit. An actuator varies the tension in the spring thereby adjusting the down or up force applied to the row unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An agricultural planter, comprising:
a toolbar;
a row unit;
a linkage coupling the row unit to the toolbar, wherein the linkage includes at least one arm, and wherein the at least one arm includes a first end coupled to the toolbar and a second end coupled to the row unit;
an actuator coupled to the toolbar;
a biasing member coupled to the linkage and the actuator, wherein the actuator is adapted to move the biasing member to vary an amount of force applied to the row unit; and
an adjustment system for determining both the force applied to the row unit and a characteristic of at least a portion of soil upon which the row unit travels.

2. The agricultural planter of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment system comprises a first sensor adapted to sense the force applied to the row unit, and a second sensor adapted to sense the characteristic of a soil upon which the row unit travels.

3. The agricultural planter of claim 2 , further comprising a third sensor adapted to sense a position of the biasing member.

4. The agricultural planter of claim 3 , wherein the sensor generates a signal associated with the position of the biasing member.

5. The agricultural planter of claim 4 , further comprising a processing unit in communication with the sensors to receive the signals and determine whether adjustment of the biasing member is necessary based on the signals.

6. The agricultural planter of claim 5 , further comprising a user interface in communication with the processing unit, and wherein any necessary adjustment required is communicated to the user interface by the processing unit and is displayed on the user interface.

7. The agricultural planter of claim 5 , wherein the processing unit communicates with the actuator to automatically adjust the biasing member based on the signal.

8. The agricultural planter of claim 2 , wherein the first sensor adapted to sense a force applied to the row unit comprises a load cell, a pressure sensor, a potentiometer, or some combination thereof.

9. The agricultural planter of claim 8 , wherein the second sensor generates a signal associated with the characteristic of the soil, and the agricultural planter further comprising a processing unit in communication with the second sensor to receive the signal and determine whether adjustment of the biasing member is necessary based on the signal.

10. The agricultural planter of claim 9 , wherein the characteristic of the soil is one of soil temperature, moisture content of soil, depth of a furrow, and soil type.

11. A method of adjusting a force applied to a row unit of an agricultural planter, the agricultural planter including a toolbar and the row unit including a linkage coupling the row unit to the agricultural planter, the method comprising:
providing an actuator including an adjustment member;
coupling a biasing member at a first end to the linkage and at a second end to the adjustment member;
sensing a plurality of characteristics associated with planting with at least one sensor, said characteristics including at least one characteristics associated with a portion of soil upon which the row unit travels;
generating a signal associated with the characteristics sensed by the at least one sensor;
communicating the signal to a processing unit; and
adjusting a position of the biasing member with the actuator based on the signal received by the processing unit in order to adjust a force applied to the row unit.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising displaying information associated with the signal on a user interface.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of adjusting a position of the biasing member with the actuator occurs automatically based upon predetermined values.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of adjusting a position of the biasing member further includes manually adjusting a position of the biasing member after reviewing information associated with the signal on the user interface.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of sensing a plurality of characteristics associated with planting includes the use of a plurality of sensors.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein sensing a plurality of characteristics includes sensing multiple of a position of the biasing member, a plurality of characteristics of soil upon which the agricultural planter travels, and a force applied to the row unit.

17. A row unit adjustment system for use with an agricultural planter for planting seeds, the agricultural planter including a toolbar and at least one row unit coupled to the toolbar, the row unit adjustment system comprising:
an actuator operatively connected to the row unit;
a biasing member operatively connected to the linkage and the actuator; and
a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor adapted to sense a separate characteristic associated with planting seeds and to generate a signal associated with each of the sensed characteristics;
wherein at least one of the characteristics associated with planting seeds comprises a characteristics of soil.

18. The row unit adjustment system of claim 17 , further comprising a processing unit receiving the signals associated with the sensed characteristics and determining whether adjustment of the biasing member is necessary based on the signals.

19. The row unit adjustment system of claim 17 , wherein a first characteristic is a position of the biasing member and the signal is associated with the position of the biasing member.

20. The row unit adjustment system of claim 19 , wherein a characteristic of the soil is one of soil temperature, moisture content of soil, depth of a furrow, and soil type.

Assignees

• Kinze Mfg Inc

Inventors

• Achen Courtney N
• Bachman Marvin
• Stevenson Vaughan G

Classifications

• Y10S111/90

  Methods of planting seeds and miscellaneous compositions · CPC title

• A01C5/062

  Devices for making drills or furrows · CPC title

• Y10S111/903

  Monitor · CPC title

• A01C7/205 Primary

  comprising pressure regulation means · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title