Precision farming system for applying product to a field

• US 20040128045A1
• Filed: 11/12/2003
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CNH Industrial Canada, Ltd (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: CNH Canada Limited (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Benneweis, Robert K.
• Granted Patent: US 6,877,675 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/005 Following a specific plan, e.g. pattern
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 23/047 Spraying of liquid fertilisers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture

Abstract

A control system is disclosed for an agricultural implement, such as an agricultural sprayer, used to dispense a product to the ground wherein the dispensing units for the product are provided with control valves that can reduce the flow rate of product through selected dispensing units to zero. By controlling the rate of flow through the dispensing units, overlap of the application of the product to the ground can be substantially eliminated. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the control mechanism can receive data from a remote source, such as a central controller or another implement operating in the field, to define where the product needs to be applied to the ground. The application of the product can also be controlled through or in conjunction with a prescription map. Preferably, each dispensing unit is provided with a control valve operably associated with the control system so that each dispensing unit can be independently controlled to provide a variable flow rate of the product to the ground.

Claims

1. In an agricultural implement for dispensing agricultural product to the ground through a plurality of product dispensing units, the improvement comprising:

a control system for controlling a rate of flow of said agricultural product from at least a portion of said product dispensing units in response to data received by said control system relating to a prior application of said agricultural product.

2. The agricultural implement of claim 1 wherein said data relating to a prior application of said agricultural product identifies an application of said agricultural product made in a previous path of said agricultural implement so that said control system can reduce said rate of flow of said agricultural product from at least one of said product dispensing units to prevent overlap in the application of said agricultural product.

3. The agricultural implement of claim 2 wherein each of said product dispensing units are independently controlled by said control system so that any of said product dispensing units being positioned over a portion of the ground having said agricultural product dispensed in a previous pass of said implement can be turned off to prevent duplicative application of said agricultural product.

4. The agricultural implement of claim 3 wherein said control system is in communication with corresponding control systems of other similar agricultural implements operating in cooperation therewith for the application of said agricultural product to the ground, said control system being operable to control the flow rate of said product dispensing units to prevent a duplicative application of said agricultural product relative to a previous pass made by one of said other similar agricultural implements.

5. The agricultural implement of claim 2 wherein each said product dispensing unit is provided with a control valve operable to control the rate of flow of said agricultural product through the corresponding said product dispensing unit in a variable manner.

6. The agricultural implement of claim 5 wherein said control system is operable to control the rate of flow of said agricultural product in response to a prescription map requiring variable application of said agricultural product to the ground.

7. In a control system for an agricultural implement for applying agricultural product to the ground thorough product dispensing units, the improvement comprising:

said control system being operable to control a rate at which said agricultural product is being dispensed from each of said product dispensing units in response to data received by said control system relating to a prior application of at least one agricultural product to the ground.

8. The control system of claim 7 wherein said data is stored on a non-volatile storage medium.

9. The control system of claim 8 wherein said non-volatile storage medium is a PCcard.

10. The control system of claim 8 wherein said data includes information from one or more of:

a location at which the product is applied;

a width dimension of said agricultural implement; and

a time differential factor relating to the delivery of the agricultural product.

11. The control system of claim 10 further including a GPS positioning system with which the location corresponding to the application of said agricultural product is tracked.

12. The control system of claim 11 further including a receiver in communication with corresponding control systems of other similar agricultural implements operating in cooperation therewith for the application of said agricultural product to the ground, said control system being operable to control the flow rate of said product dispensing units to prevent a duplicative application of said agricultural product relative to a previous pass made by one of said other similar agricultural implements.

13. The control system of claim 12 wherein each said product dispensing unit is provided with a control valve operable to control the rate of flow of said agricultural product through the corresponding said product dispensing unit in a variable manner.

14. The control system of claim 13 wherein said control system is operable to control the rate of flow of said agricultural product in response to a prescription map requiring variable application of said agricultural product to the ground.

15. The control system of claim 12 wherein said receiver is in communication with a central master control system which transmits data to said control system to provide information relating to a previous application of said agricultural product.

16. An agricultural product applicator implement comprising:

a plurality of dispensing units for dispensing a product to a field;

a flow control device associated with each respective said dispensing unit to control the rate of flow through each dispensing unit independently;

control system operatively associated with said flow control devices to control the rate of flow through each corresponding said dispensing unit such that any one said dispensing unit can have a flow rate of said product therethrough at a rate which is different than any other of said dispensing units.

17. The implement of claim 16 wherein said control system is selectively operable to reduce said flow rate variably from a maximum flow rate to zero.

18. The implement of claim 17 wherein said control system is operable to reduce said flow rate to zero for any of said dispensing units overlapping a previous dispensing of said product by one or more of the dispense units.

19. The implement of claim 18 in which the control system includes storage for storing information of where product was previously dispensed.

20. The implement of claim 19 in which said control system receives information from a remote control that includes storage for information of where product was previously dispensed.

21. The implement of claim 19 in which the control system adds information to the storage of where product is dispensed by the implement.

22. A method of applying agricultural product to the ground from an agricultural implement having a plurality of transversely oriented product dispensing units from which said agricultural product is dispensed and a control system for controlling a rate of product flow through said product dispensing units, comprising the steps of:

controlling the rate of product flow through at least one of said product dispensing units corresponding to data received by said control system relating to a prior application of at least one agricultural product to the ground.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said controlling step includes the step of reducing said rate of product flow to zero for any of said product dispensing units that overlap a path of product on the ground that had been previously dispensed.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of:

receiving data indicative of prior application of said product to the ground from a remote source.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said remote source is a second agricultural implement working in conjunction with said first agricultural implement.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein said data is obtained from a prescription map inputted into said control system.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said prescription map is received by said control system from a remote source.