Variable rate agricultural product application implement with multiple inputs and feedback

• US 6,070,539 A
• Filed: 05/15/1998
• Issued: 06/06/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blue Leaf IP Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.), CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Case Corporation (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Wendte, Keith, Orbach, Abe, Haack, Paul, Flamme, David D.
• Primary Examiner(s): BATSON, VICTOR D
• Application Number:
  US09/079,755
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 111/903, 111/200, 111/177, 111/915, 111/904, 111/130, 221/211, 239/61, 239/63, 239/64, 239/65, 701/50
• US Class Current: 111/177
• 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 21/007 Determining fertilization requirements
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/06 Seeders combined with fertilising apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/102 Regulating or controlling the seed rate
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/105 Seed sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 7/0089 Regulating or controlling systems the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 111/903 Monitor

Abstract

One or more agricultural products, such as seed, fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide, may be dispensed at each of a plurality of row locations on an agricultural implement toolbar. A local bus connects each local metering device to a local controller at the row location, which may also have actual product application rate and soil characteristic sensors. The local controllers are connected through a system bus to a central processor mounted on the tractor, which is connected to a memory for storing product prescription and actual application maps, and also to a GPS receiver for determining current location in the field. Each local controller controls the agricultural product metering device(s) at the row location as a function of the last commanded rate received from the processor and the actual rate as sensed at the row location. The commanded rate may be derived by the processor as a function of multiple variables as stored in levels of the prescription map, or from a manual override signal from the operator.

Claims

1. Apparatus for applying an agricultural product to a field, comprising:

a vehicle for moving over the field;

processing means transported by the vehicle and coupled to a memory for storing a theoretical rate of application of the agricultural product, the processing means operable to generate a metering device control signal representative of said theoretical rate of application;

an agricultural product metering device coupled to the processing means for receiving said metering device control signal, said metering device dispensing a quantity of the agricultural product which varies according to the metering device control signal;

a sensor mounted on said vehicle and measuring an actual rate of application of the agricultural product being dispensed by said metering device, said sensor generating an actual rate signal;

the processing means coupled to said sensor for receiving said actual rate signal, the processing means deriving an actual rate of application from said actual rate signal and comparing said actual rate with said stored theoretical rate; and

the processing means altering said metering device control signal as a function of the said actual rate of application of the agricultural product being dispensed and the theoretical rate in order that the actual rate and the theoretical rate may more closely match.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said agricultural product is selected from the group consisting of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said agricultural product is seeds, said metering device comprising a singulator, said actual rate signal being a function of a number of seeds dispensed in a predetermined time interval.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metering device comprises a fluted roll movable with respect to a gate.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, including a controller for receiving said metering device control signal, said controller altering said metering device control signal as a function of the difference of the actual rate and the theoretical rate.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus further includes a user input device coupled to the processing means and adaptable to generate a manual application signal for overriding the processing means'"'"' automatic calculation of the metering device control signal, the processing means transmitting a manual metering device control signal to said metering device responsive to receiving said manual application signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said metering device is mounted on a toolbar towed by said prime mover.

8. Apparatus for applying an agricultural product to a field, comprising:

a vehicle for moving over the field;

processing means transported by the vehicle and coupled to a memory for storing a theoretical rate of application of the agricultural product, the processing means operable to generate a metering device control signal representative of said theoretical rate of application;

an agricultural product metering device coupled to the processing means for receiving said metering device control signal, said metering device dispensing a quantity of the agricultural product which varies according to the metering device control signal;

a sensor mounted on said vehicle and measuring an actual rate of application of the agricultural product being dispensed by said metering device, said sensor generating an actual rate signal;

the processing means coupled to said sensor for receiving said actual rate signal, the processing means deriving an actual rate of application from said actual rate signal and comparing said actual rate with said stored theoretical rate;

the processing means altering said metering device control signal as a function of the said actual rate of application of the agricultural product being dispensed and the theoretical rate in order that the actual rate and the theoretical rate may more closely match; and

said processing means altering said metering device control signal as a function of an old value of the control signal and a control signal change, the change derived as a function of the actual rate and the theoretical rate of application of the agricultural product.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said processing means does not alter said metering device control signal if the difference between the actual rate and the theoretical rate of application falls within a predetermined deadband.

10. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a prime mover for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field in a direction of travel;

a tool bar coupled to said prime mover and having a length oriented at an angle to said direction of travel, a plurality of agricultural product metering devices mounted along said tool bar;

processing means conveyed by said vehicle and coupled to each of said metering devices to transmit respective agricultural metering device control signals thereto in order to control, on an individual metering device basis, the dispensing of the agricultural product onto the field;

a geographical location device coupled to the processing means and supplying a geographical location signal thereto, the processing means deriving a geographical location of each of said metering devices as a function of said geographical location signal;

a memory for storing an agricultural application prescription map, said prescription map storing a quantity of agricultural product to be dispensed which varies according to the geographical location of each metering device within the field, the processing means generating the metering device control signals as a function of their geographical locations and said agricultural application prescription map.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said agricultural product is selected from the group consisting of seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides.

12. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a prime mover for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field;

at least one agricultural product metering device coupled to said prime mover for being moved across said agricultural field;

processing means coupled to said metering device and coupled to a memory, said memory storing a map of said field containing data concerning crop greenness derived from an image taken of the field from thereabove;

a geographical location device mounted on said apparatus and generating a geographical location signal, said processing means adapted to receive said geographical location signal and to derive a geographical location of said metering device therefrom, said processing means retrieving a datum from said map based on said geographical location signal, said processing means generating a metering device control signal as a function of said geographical location and said datum.

13. A The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing means includes a processor mounted on said prime mover.

14. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a prime mover for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field;

at least one agricultural product metering device coupled to said prime mover for being moved across said agricultural field;

processing means conveyed by the prime mover and coupled to said metering device;

a memory coupled to the processing means and adaptable to store a map of soil depths of said field;

a geographical location device mounted on said apparatus and generating a geographical location signal, said processing means adapted to receive said geographical location signal and to derive a geographical location of said metering device therefrom, said processing means retrieving a soil depth datum from said map based on said geographical location signal, said processing means generating a metering device control signal as a function of said geographical location and said soil depth datum.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said processing means includes a processor mounted on said prime mover.

16. Apparatus for applying an agricultural product to a field, comprising:

a prime mover vehicle for moving over the field;

processing means conveyed by said vehicle, said processing means coupled to a memory for storing a theoretical rate of application of the agricultural product, said processing means operable to generate a metering device control signal representative of said theoretical rate of application;

an agricultural product metering device coupled to the processing means for receiving said metering device control signal, said metering device dispensing a quantity of the agricultural product which varies according to the metering device control signal;

a sensor conveyed by said vehicle and measuring an actual rate of application of the agricultural product being dispensed by said metering device, said sensor generating an actual rate signal;

the processing means coupled to said sensor for receiving said actual rate signal, the processing means deriving an actual rate of application from said actual rate signal and comparing said actual rate with said stored theoretical rate, the processing means generating an alarm signal if the actual rate is greater than some predetermined rate difference from the stored theoretical rate; and

an alarm circuit coupled to the processing means for generating an alarm responsive to receiving said alarm signal, said alarm adaptable to warn a user of said apparatus that said metering device requires recalibration.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, and further comprising an agricultural implement towed by the prime mover vehicle, the agricultural product metering device and the sensor mounted on the agricultural implement, the processing means including a controller mounted on the agricultural implement in proximity to the sensor and the agricultural product metering device.

18. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a prime mover for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field;

at least one agricultural product metering device coupled to said prime mover for being moved across said agricultural field; and

processing means coupled to said metering device and a memory, said memory storing a plurality of two dimensional layers of data concerning a like plurality of characteristics taken of the field, a geographical location device conveyed by said prime mover and generating a geographical location signal, the processing means adapted to receive said geographical location signal and to derive a geographical location of said metering device therefrom, the processing means retrieving at least one datum from said memory based on said geographical location, the processing means generating a metering device control signal as a function of said geographical location and said at least one datum.

19. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a prime mover for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field;

at least one agricultural product metering device coupled to the prime mover for being moved across the agricultural field;

processing means coupled to the metering device and a memory, the memory storing a prescription map for the field by which at least one datum relating to a desired prescription is specified for each of a plurality of locations in the field;

a geographical locator coupled to the processing means for transmitting a geographical position signal thereto, the processing means deriving at which field location the vehicle is disposed as a function of the geographical position signal;

the processing means generating a metering device control signal as a function of the datum for the current field location, the metering device operating as a function of a value of the metering device control signal; and

a sensor mounted on the prime mover for determining a value of the datum of the agricultural product as actually applied to the current location, the sensor transmitting an actual application signal to the processing means, an actual application map stored in the memory, the processing means deriving an actual application datum from the actual application signal and inserting the actual application datum into the actual application map.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one datum is selected from the group consisting of a rate of application of the agricultural product and a type of a selected one of a predetermined plurality of product types which may be applied to the field.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the agricultural product is selected from the group consisting of seed, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the actual application map is matched to the prescription map.

23. Apparatus for dispensing an agricultural product, comprising:

a vehicle for moving the apparatus across an agricultural field in a direction of travel;

a tool bar coupled to the vehicle for being moved across the agricultural field, a length of the tool bar being disposed at an angle to the direction of travel, the toolbar being divided into a plurality of row positions;

at each row position, at least one agricultural product metering device for dispensing an agricultural product onto the field, a controller mounted at the row position and coupled to the metering device for transmitting a control signal thereto, the metering device dispensing an amount of the agricultural product in response to receiving the control signal from the controller;

a processor mounted on the vehicle, a memory coupled to the processor for storing an agricultural prescription map of the agricultural field, geographical location means coupled to the processor for transmitting a geographical location signal to the processor, the processor deriving a location of the vehicle in the field from the geographical location signal and retrieving at least one theoretical prescription datum from the prescription map as a function of the geographical location, the processor establishing at least one agricultural product commanded rate, at least one agricultural product commanded type, or a combination of rate and type, and

a path coupling the processor to each controller coupled to a metering device at each of the row positions, the processor selectively transmitting a rate/type signal indicative of commanded rate, commanded type or both to one or more of the controllers, the controllers changing a value of the control signal as a function of a change in the prescription datum received by the controller.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor retrieves prescription data in a sequence determined by the changing geographical location of the vehicle, the processor transmitting a rate/type signal derived from a retrieved transmission datum to one or more controllers only when the rate/type signal is a value that is different from a previously retrieved prescription datum.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor derives a current geographical position for each agricultural metering device on the toolbar based on a value of the geographical location signal, the processor accessing a plurality of prescription data from the prescription map each corresponding to the geographical position of a respective row location, the processor selectively transmitting a rate/type signal for a particular row location to the controller at that particular row location.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, and further comprising, at each row position, a sensor for sensing what was actually applied by the metering device, an actual application signal transmitted by the sensor to the controller at the row position.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, and further comprising, at each row position, a plurality of metering devices, a local bus interconnecting each of the plurality of metering devices at the row location with the controller at the row position.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tool bar is towed by the vehicle.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the processor establishes the at least one agricultural product commanded rate, at least one agricultural product commanded type, or a combination of rate and type, based on a plurality of retrieved data for the asserted geographical location.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, and further comprising, at each row position, a plurality of agricultural product metering devices for dispensing a plurality of agricultural products onto the field, the processor transmitting a rate/type signal to the controller which is indicative of a rate or type of each of the plurality of agricultural products.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, when the plurality of agricultural products are selected from the group consisting of seed, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.