Floating Seed Singulator for Vacuum Disk Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum seed meters, particularly those with celled disks, experience reduced singulation accuracy due to manufacturing tolerances and require frequent adjustments, leading to issues like 'skips' and 'doubles' when planting flat seeds, and existing solutions either require tedious adjustments or fail to compensate for disk translations.
Innovation Solution
A seed singulator with biasing members and lobes that float with the seed plane and shoulder of the vacuum disk, allowing for contact from both sides of the apertures and compensating for axial and radial translations, ensuring consistent performance across different seed types and disk designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If celled-disk vacuum meters are used to plant flat shaped seeds, then vacuum pressure is reduced and seeds are held in place, but singulation accuracy deteriorates with skips and doubles occurring in near succession
Solution Approach 1:
A singulator disk with apertures is introduced as an intermediary component between the vacuum disk and the seed metering system. This disk provides a controlled interface for seed release, preventing skips and doubles while working in conjunction with the vacuum pressure system to maintain both low pressure operation and high singulation accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The seed metering system is segmented into multiple functional components: the vacuum disk for seed pickup, the singulator disk with apertures for controlled release, and associated mechanisms. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally, with the singulator disk specifically addressing the skips and doubles problem
2Reliability
If non-celled flat disks are used to improve singulation accuracy, then skips and doubles are reduced, but the system requires very tedious adjustments by the planter operator
Solution Approach 1:
The singulator disk is designed with features that automatically adapt to different seed types and conditions. The aperture configuration and disk geometry provide self-adjusting characteristics that maintain singulation accuracy without requiring manual intervention or complex adjustments by the operator
Solution Approach 2:
The singulator disk is designed to work universally with different seed types, disk configurations, and meter settings. Its aperture-based design provides a multi-functional solution that maintains singulation accuracy across various operating conditions without requiring operator adjustments
3Ease of manufacture
If vacuum meters are designed with fixed alignment components, then manufacturing is simplified, but performance is reduced due to manufacturing tolerances and disk warping
Solution Approach 1:
The singulator disk assembly incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities that allow the disk to be positioned and aligned during operation. This dynamic feature compensates for manufacturing tolerances and disk warping, maintaining singulation performance without requiring perfect fixed alignment
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows for parameter changes in disk positioning, orientation, and spacing to compensate for manufacturing variations. These adjustable parameters enable the system to maintain optimal performance despite tolerances in manufacturing, bridging the gap between ease of manufacture and reliability
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
The seed singulator achieves high singulation accuracy with minimal adjustments, maintaining performance despite disk warping or misalignment, and allows for seamless switching between different disk types without needing to remove the singulator.
Implementation Method 1
the vacuum disk having a seed face and a shoulder. The seed singulator has a first member and a second member supported by biasing members
Implementation Method 2
The biasing members permit the lobes to move with the seed plane and the shoulder as the vacuum disk rotates
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A seed singulator (900) for use with a vacuum disk (200, 500) having a seed face (204, 504) and a shoulder (230, 530). The seed singulator has a first member (906) and a second member (922) supported by biasing members (926, 932). The first member has upper lobes (908, 910, 912) disposed at a radius of curvature slightly less than the outside radius (R2) of a row of apertures (208, 508) on a seed plane (222, 522) of the vacuum disk (200, 500). The second member has lower lobes (914, 916) disposed at a radius of curvature slightly greater than the inside radius (R3) of the row of apertures (208, 508). The biasing members permit the lobes to move with the seed plane and the shoulder as the vacuum disk rotates thereby maintaining their position with respect to the apertures.