PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION DEVICE WITH SECTION CONTROL MONITORING
A product distribution device shown as an agricultural air seeder in which product distribution can be selective stopped and started in sections of the machine width. The functioning of the section control system is monitored by sensors that directly detect the control member position as opposed to sensing the commanded position of the control member. Likewise, in generating a map of the area covered, the actual detected position of the control member is used instead of the commanded position of the control member. An operator is notified of inconsistencies between the commended position of the control member and the sensed position.
The following relates to a product distribution device, such as an agricultural air seeder, having section control and a monitor for the section control.
A product distribution device is provided and described below. One application of such a device is an agricultural air seeder.
Referring to
An air distribution system 34 includes a fan 36 connected and a product delivery conduit structure having multiple product flow passages 38. The fan 36 directs air through the passages 38. A product meter assembly 40, located at the bottom of each tank 12 and 14, only one of which is shown in
Each passage 38 carries product rearwardly in the air stream to a secondary distribution tower 50. Typically, there will be one tower 50 for each passage 38. Each tower 50 includes a secondary distributing manifold 52 located at the uppermost end of a vertical tube 54. The distributing manifold 52 divides the flow of product into a number of secondary distribution lines 58. Each secondary distribution line 58 delivers product to one of a plurality of openers 60 attached to the frame 26 at transversely spaced locations to deposit the product in the ground. A firming or closing wheel 62 associated with each opener 60 trails the opener and firms the soil over the product deposited in the soil. The implement 10 may be equipped with separate passages 38 for each of the tanks 12 and 14 as shown whereby different products can be distributed separately. Alternatively, the products from tanks 12 and 14 can be combined in the same set of passages 38 for distribution together. In other embodiments of the distribution system, the passages 38 may be selectively configurable to combine the products from tanks 12 and 14 into common passages or to keep the products separate in different passages 38. In the air cart 11 shown in
The meter assembly 40 will now be described in greater detail with reference to
The inlet passage 78 leads to a meter cartridge 90 which houses a meter roller 92. The cartridge 90 is removable from the meter housing 70 as shown in
Each roller segment 100 is disposed within a separate meter casing 94. Each meter casing 94 has a radial wall 106 along one axial end of the casing 94 that separates adjacent roller segments 100 from one another axially along the shaft 102. Each casing 94 defines an inlet 108 in communication with and aligned with the inlet passage 78 of the meter housing 70 for receiving product therefrom. As the meter roller 92 rotates, as shown by the arrow 110 in
With reference to
With reference to
A meter casing and shut-off gate are shown in greater detail in
The gate 140 is operable to stop flow of the product by blocking the meter casing outlet. Other mechanisms for doing the same are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,132,521 and 8,281,724 which show other gate mechanisms for closing the meter outlet, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Product flow can also be stopped by blocking the flow of product into the meter as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,440 also incorporated herein by reference. Product flow can further be stopped by stopping the rotation of one or more meter roller segments 100. A device for doing so is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,196,534 incorporated herein by reference. Other means may be used to disconnect sections of a meter roller from the drive. One example of this is the Zone Command and Auto Zone Command™ available from Seed Master of Emerald Park, Saskatchewan, Canada, which uses an air cylinder to disengage gears on the metering rollers to stop and start the product flow. Product flow through the product flow passages can also be stopped by control means located in the product flow passages downstream of the meter. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,990, incorporated herein by reference, shows valves diverting the flow of product from the secondary distribution lines 58 to stop the product flow. All of the above mechanisms include a control member that is movable between open and closed positions to either allow or stop flow of product to the product flow passages.
During operation of the implement 10, it is important to know that the control member or gate 140 is in the proper position. If the control member is in its closed position when it is supposed to be open, an area of a field will not be covered or planted with seed. Conversely, if the control member is in the open position when it is commanded to be closed, there will be wasted product. Seed Hawk, of Langbank, Saskatchewan makes an air cart embodying the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,440. To monitor the location of the shut off gates, a sensor is placed on the gate actuator to monitor the position of the actuator. While this is helpful, it does not work properly to inform the operator of the control member position in the event of a failure of the connection between the actuator and the control member.
A monitoring system is provided to overcome this problem by directly sensing the position of the control member, such as the gate 140. By “directly” sensing the control member position, it is meant that the position of the control member itself is sensed, not the position of the actuator or linkage connected between the control member and the actuator. Thus, regardless of any failure of the actuator or linkage, the operator is always informed concerning the actual position of the control member.
In the device shown in the Figures, the control member position sensing is accomplished with the use of proximity switches associated with each control member or gate 140. A magnet 202 is affixed to or integrated into each control member. A tube 204 extends through the meter casings 94 and contains reed switches 206 for each shut-off gate 140 and magnet 202. The reed switches are a type of proximity sensor that is activated by the presence of the magnet. In this instance, the reed switch is a non-contact switch as it does not make contact with the control member. In this embodiment, when the shut-off gate 140 is in the open position, the magnet is close enough to the switch to act on the switch to close the electrical circuit. The closed circuit generates a signal to the controller 222 (see below). When the shut-off gate is in the closed position, the magnet is sufficiently far away from the reed switch that the switch remains in the open position and no signal is generated. The tube 204 contains the lead wires for multiple switches so that one switch is placed in each meter casing 94 for detecting the position of each control member or gate 140. The tube 204 encloses the reed switches and isolates the switches from the environment and from contamination from the product being distributed. The tube may be made of any suitable material that allows the magnetic field of the magnets 202 to pass into the tube. Stainless steel is one suitable material. The tube and reed switches are available from Elobau GmbH. By activating the reed switches 206 based on the position of the gates, the gate position is sensed directly instead of sensing the position of another component that is connected to the gate. This avoids any signal errors caused by mechanical failures. Other types of contact and non-contact position sensors may be used in place of the magnets and reed switch combination described here.
The direct sensing of the control member position can be done with control members at any location in the distribution system. For example, the control members maybe between the tanks and the meter to prevent product flow into the meter. In another embodiment, the control member may be a distance downstream from the meter. One option is to place the control member at a distribution manifold such as the manifold 52. In all embodiments, the claimed “product flow passage” is a passage downstream of the control member or gate 140.
A schematic diagram of the control system is shown in
A location signal input is provided by a positioning system such as GPS 226. Any type of local or satellite positioning system can be used. The controller stores in the memory map data showing the geographic area over which product has been distributed. The map is based on the position of the device, i.e. the area over which the tool 24 has covered, and the actual sensed positions of the shut-off gates 140. This produces a more accurate coverage map than if the map is based on the commanded position of the control members since the actual position of the control members may vary from the commanded position. The schematic diagram of the control system in
Having described one embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.
Claims
1. A product distribution device comprising:
- a container for holding a product to be distributed;
- a meter assembly for controlling discharge of product from the container;
- a product flow passage through which product flows downstream of the meter;
- a flow control system having a control member movable between an open position and a closed position, in the open position the control member allowing flow of product through the product flow passage and in the closed position the control member stopping flow of product through the product flow passage;
- a position sensor to directly sense the control member position; and
- a controller coupled to the flow control system to send signals to the flow control system to command an open or closed position of the control member, the controller further coupled to the position sensor to receive signals from the sensor indicating the position of the control member, the controller comparing the sensed control member position with the commanded control member position and alerting an operator when the commanded control member and the sensed control member position are inconsistent.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein the sensor is a non-contact sensor.
3. The device of claim 2 wherein the position sensor is a proximity switch.
4. The device of claim 1 wherein the controller alerts the operator when the inconsistency in commanded control member position and sensed control member position occurs when the commanded control member position is open and the sensed control member position is closed.
5. The device of claim 1 wherein the controller alerts the operator when the inconsistency in commanded control member position and sensed control member position occurs when the commanded control member position is closed and the sensed control member position is open.
6. The device of claim 1 comprising a plurality of the product flow passages and a plurality of the control members and a plurality of the position sensors.
7. The device of claim 1 wherein the controller generates a map of field area over which the product distribution device has been operated and over which product has been distributed based on the flow control member sensed position.
8. A product distribution device comprising:
- a container for holding a product to be distributed;
- a meter assembly for controlling discharge of product from the container, the meter assembly having a meter housing with an inlet passage and an outlet passage, a meter roll disposed in a meter cartridge removably mounted in the meter housing, the cartridge having an inlet aligned with the inlet passage and an outlet aligned with the outlet passage when the cartridge is mounted in the meter housing;
- a plurality of product flow passages through which product flows downstream of the meter;
- a flow control system having a plurality of flow control members, each flow control member associated with one of the product flow passages, the flow control members being movable between an open position and a closed position, in the open position the control members allowing flow of product through the associated product flow passage and in the closed position the control members stopping flow of product in the associated product flow passage;
- position sensors to directly sense the position of the control members; and
- a controller coupled to the flow control system to send signals to the flow control system to command an open or closed position of the control members, the controller further coupled to the position sensors to receive signals from the sensors indicating the position of the control members, the controller comparing the sensed position of the control members with the commanded positions and alerting an operator when the commanded position of a control member and the sensed position of the control member are not consistent.
9. The device of claim 8 wherein the sensors are non-contact sensors.
10. The device of claim 9 wherein the position sensors are proximity switches.
11. The device of claim 8 wherein the controller alerts the operator when the inconsistency in commanded control member position and sensed control member position occurs when the commanded control member position is open and the sensed control member position is closed.
12. The device of claim 8 wherein the controller alerts the operator when the inconsistency in commanded control member position and sensed control member position occurs when the commanded control member position is closed and the sensed control member position is open.
13. The device of claim 8 wherein the controller is generates a map of field area over which the product distribution device has been operated and over which product has been distributed based on the sensed positions of the flow control members.
14. A monitor for a product distribution device, the product distribution device having a container for holding a product to be distributed, a meter assembly for controlling discharge of product from the container, a product flow passage through which product flows downstream of the meter; a flow control system having a control member movable between an open position and a closed position, in the open position the control member allowing flow of product through the product flow passage and in the closed position the control member stopping flow of product in the product flow passage, and a position sensor to sense the control member position, wherein the monitor generates a map of field area over which the product distribution device has been operated and over which product has been distributed based on the sensed position of the flow control member.
Type: Application
Filed: May 14, 2015
Publication Date: Nov 17, 2016
Inventors: MATTHEW DAVID ARNOLD (MOLINE, IL), WILLIAM DOUGLAS GRAHAM (EAST MOLINE, IL), MICHAEL EUGENE FRASIER (IOWA CITY, IA)
Application Number: 14/711,840