Cultivation Air Seeder Sequential Tool Raising
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cultivation air seeders face challenges in coordinating the raising and lowering of cultivators and openers with the seed meter during headland turns, leading to risks of premature or delayed seed deposition.
Innovation Solution
The cultivators and openers are sequentially raised or lowered in coordination with the activation or deactivation of the seed meter, ensuring seamless seed delivery and deposition by maintaining the blower motor's operation during transitions, allowing seeds to be emptied from conduits before raising and reactivated when necessary for resuming seeding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the operator raises all tools (discs, tines and openers) and turns off the meter as the seeder enters the headland area, then the seeder is prepared for turning, but there is a risk of stopping seeding too late and scattering seeds on the ground
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tool raising operation into two distinct phases: cultivators raise first, then openers raise after a predetermined time delay. This segmentation allows the seeding system to remain active during cultivator raising but stop cleanly before opener raising, preventing seed scattering while maintaining reliable control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by raising the cultivators before raising the openers. This preliminary raising of cultivators allows the seed meter to be turned off in advance before the openers reach their raised position, ensuring seeds are deposited only when openers are properly positioned in the soil.
2Productivity
If the operator lowers all tools simultaneously after the turn, then the seeder is ready to resume seeding, but there is a risk of resuming seed deposit too late, after traveling down the field for a distance
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by lowering the cultivators first before lowering the openers. This allows the seed meter to be turned back on in advance while the openers are still raised, so that when the openers reach their lowered position, seeding is already in progress or ready to begin immediately, eliminating delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the conventional sequence by lowering cultivators before openers, rather than lowering them simultaneously or in the opposite order. This inverted sequence enables the seed meter to activate earlier, ensuring seeds are ready to be deposited as soon as the openers engage the soil, maximizing productivity without compromising synchronization.
3Ease of operation
If the openers are raised at the same time as the cultivators, then the tool raising is simple and coordinated, but there is a risk of stopping the seeding too late and simply scattering seeds on the ground
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tool raising operation into distinct phases with a time delay between cultivator raising and opener raising. This segmentation maintains ease of operation through automated control while preventing seed scattering by ensuring the seed meter is turned off before openers leave the ground.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces dynamic timing control where the opener raising is delayed relative to cultivator raising. This dynamic adjustment allows the seed meter to remain active during cultivator raising but stop before openers raise, eliminating seed scattering while maintaining simple operator control through automated sequencing.
4Object-generated harmful factors
If the meter is turned off immediately when cultivators start raising, then seed scattering is prevented, but seeds in the conduits downstream from the meter continue to be delivered to the openers for a while
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by introducing a predetermined time delay between turning off the seed meter and raising the openers. This delay allows seeds already in the conduits to be naturally delivered and deposited without active meter operation, preventing seed scattering while utilizing the existing seed flow to minimize waste.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution prevents seed scattering and ensures timely resumption of seeding operations by coordinating the tool positions with the seed meter's activation, maintaining efficient seed distribution during turns and transitions.
Implementation Method 1
A meter dispenses the seeds or other particulate material from a large bulk hopper on the seeder into an air stream that transports the seeds to the openers
Data Source
AI summary
When the operator of a cultivation air seeder shifts the tractor valve to raise the cultivators and openers from the ground as the seeder prepares to turn around at the end of a field, the operating and control system of the seeder causes the cultivators to be raised first, followed in sequence by the trailing openers. The seed meter turns off as soon as the cultivators leave their lowered position, but the blower stays on so that seeds in the conduits downstream from the meter continue to be delivered to and deposited into the ground by the openers until the cultivators reach their raised position, whereupon the openers are raised. Depending upon the particular seeding mode selected by the operator, the cultivators and openers either lower simultaneously as the operator shifts the tractor valve to the lowering position when starting down the next pass, or the cultivators are lowered first, followed in sequence by the openers. Regardless of the selected seeding mode, the seed meter turns on as soon as the cultivators reach their lowered positions.