Planter Reciprocating Seed Shaft for Low-Force, Close-Row Planting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural seeding machines face challenges in creating seed trenches efficiently, especially in compacted soils, requiring high force and maintaining a large distance between rows.
Innovation Solution
A planter with a seed metering device and a reciprocating shaft that extends and retracts to plant seeds, using a control system to adjust the shaft's frequency and speed based on travel speed and seed position, allowing for precise seed placement and trench creation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If furrow opening discs are used to create seed trenches, then seeds can be placed in the ground, but a large amount of force is required especially in compacted soils
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the trench creation function from the seed placement mechanism by using a separate reciprocating shaft that creates openings through direct insertion rather than pre-forming furrows. This separates the soil displacement action from the seed deposition action, allowing each to be optimized independently.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of creating a furrow first and then placing the seed, the invention inverts the sequence by inserting the seed directly into the ground through a reciprocating shaft that creates its own opening path. This reverses the conventional approach of furrow-creation followed by seed-placement.
2Length of moving object
If furrow opening discs are used to create seed trenches, then seeds can be placed in the ground, but a large minimum distance is required between the rows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the planting system into independent reciprocating shaft units, each capable of operating autonomously. This segmentation allows each shaft to create its own narrow opening path, enabling closer row spacing compared to the interconnected furrow opening disc system.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a horizontal furrow-opening approach to a vertical reciprocating insertion approach. By changing the dimension of the opening action from horizontal soil displacement to vertical seed insertion, the system achieves narrower row spacing capability.
3Manufacturing precision
If the shaft reciprocates frequently to plant seeds, then precise seed placement is achieved, but the speed of the seeding machine must be coordinated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where sensors detect seed position and shaft reciprocation status, and the control system adjusts the reciprocation frequency and endless member speed accordingly. This closed-loop control ensures precise seed placement while coordinating with the machine's travel speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the reciprocation frequency of the shaft and the speed of the endless member based on real-time conditions. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain precise seed placement across varying travel speeds of the seeding machine.
Data Source
AI summary
A seeding machine moves over the ground and includes a frame, at least one hopper containing seeds to be planted and planting row units connected to the frame. Each of the row units includes a seed metering device that separates and guides individual seeds into a planting position, and a shaft that reciprocates with respect to the frame through a stroke path. The stroke path includes extension towards the ground to a lowered position and retraction away from the ground to a raised position. The shaft engages one of the seeds from the planting position while the shaft is near the raised position. The shaft moves the one of the seeds downward while the shaft extends toward the ground to create an opening in the ground by pressing the one of the seeds into ground while the shaft is near the lowered position.