Tillage Blades with Alternating Angles for Level Soil
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tillage implements with concave disc blades struggle to achieve effective crop residue coverage while maintaining a level soil surface, as they either create ridges or valleys due to the orientation of the blades, requiring a compromise between residue coverage and soil levelness.
Innovation Solution
The tillage implement features sets of longitudinally spaced concave blades angled with respect to the vertical and travel direction, progressively directing soil to the left and right, and rearward, which spreads and levels the soil as it passes through, mitigating the issue of uneven surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If concave disc blades are oriented with concave sides facing the same direction on common gang shafts, then crop residue coverage between discs is improved, but soil surface levelness deteriorates due to ridge and valley formation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the tillage blades into separate individual mounts on the frame rather than grouping them on common gang shafts. Each blade is independently positioned and angled to direct soil laterally in alternating directions, segmenting the soil throwing action to prevent concentration of soil in single locations, thereby eliminating ridge and valley formation while maintaining residue coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs asymmetric blade orientation where adjacent blades are angled at different directions relative to the direction of travel. Specifically, blades are alternately angled to throw soil to the left and right sides, creating a balanced lateral distribution pattern that prevents the symmetric ridge-valley pattern caused by conventional same-direction blade orientation.
2Quantity of substance
If the angle between gang shafts and direction of travel is increased to improve crop residue coverage, then residue coverage is improved, but ridge and valley size increases
Solution Approach 1:
By mounting each blade individually rather than in groups on common shafts, the invention allows independent control of each blade's angle and position. This segmentation enables optimization of blade angles for maximum residue coverage while distributing soil throw across multiple discrete locations, preventing the formation of large concentrated ridges and valleys.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a two-dimensional gang shaft mounting system to a three-dimensional individual blade mounting system on the frame. This allows blades to be positioned at various longitudinal spacings and angled in multiple directions, adding dimensional flexibility to distribute soil laterally and prevent concentrated ridge-valley formation while achieving thorough residue coverage.
Data Source
AI summary
A tillage apparatus includes a wheeled frame configured with a plurality of concave blades arranged in a plurality of longitudinally extending columns and transversely extending rows. The rows are longitudinally spaced apart by a progressively increasing distance. The blades of each column are transversely tilted alternately to the left and right. The blades of each column are transversely offset from one another to create a swath of tilled ground along the width of the column. In operation, soil is thrown left and right between successive blades of a column to till the soil across the width of the column and leave a substantially level soil surface.