Method of counting seeds dispensed through seed tubes of an air seeding system

• US 6,093,926 A
• Filed: 01/16/1998
• Issued: 07/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Batcheller, Barry D., Wanner, Jason J., Bramel, Paul R., Mertins, Karl-Heinz O.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, QUE TAN
• Application Number:
  US09/008,631
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 250/222.2, 250/221, 250/223 R, 377/6-9, 377/28-29, 377/53, 221/174, 221/185, 221/211, 221/254, 221/3, 221/71, 221/25, 221/9
• US Class Current: 250/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 7/105 Seed sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/12 using one transmitter and one receiver
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/00 Technologies relating to agriculture, livestock or agroalimentary industries

Abstract

An optical particle flow monitoring system for monitoring particle flow through the primary and/or secondary tubes of an air dispensing system, such as an air seeder. The primary tubes include a particle sensor having at least one emitter lens body, which forms a substantially uniform, collimated beam which illuminates a sensing area in a seed tube in order to accurately monitor the number of particles flowing in the seed tube. In the preferred embodiment, optical fibers connect the emitter lens bodies to optical beam generating devices, and connect respective receiver lens bodies to optical beam detecting devices, with both the optical beam generating devices and the optical beam detecting devices being located remotely from the seed tubes for improved immunity to static electricity discharge. All the particles flowing in the secondary seed tubes associated with a given primary tube may be counted by a particle sensor located on the primary tube, thus greatly decreasing the number of sensors and the amount of data processing required to determine the total number of particles dispensed by the secondary tubes of the air dispensing system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of monitoring particle flow through an air driven particle dispensing system said method comprising the steps of:

dispensing particles through at least one particle tube from a hopper;

dispensing a flow of particles from said at least one particle tube into a plurality of secondary particle tubes which are smaller in area than said particle tube under air pressure from a tank;

providing a particle sensor positioned at each said at least one particle tube so as to detect particle flow through each particle tube, each said particle sensor including at least one emitter lens body which directs an optical beam to a sensing area;

analyzing transient reductions in the light from an emitter that passes through the sensing area of each sensor, said transient reductions being caused as each particle momentarily blocks light from the emitter lens body as the particles pass through said optical beam in the sensing area, so as to determine a count of the number of particles flowing through the associated particle tube, wherein the particles are seeds and a computer-implemented algorithm sets criteria for categorizing whether a seed event has occurred, and wherein said computer-implemented algorithm adjusts itself automatically during successive time periods to account for variations in seed size based on a detected running average percentage reduction of the light from the sensing area as caused by the passage of seeds through the sensing area.

2. The method of monitoring particle flow as set forth in claim 1, wherein said computer-implemented algorithm also adjusts itself automatically during said successive time periods to account for variations in seed delivery rate based on a running average of the ratio of a maximum event width to a mium event width over a given number of samples.

3. In a computer-implemented method of monitoring particle flow by forming a light beam that transits a sensing area, passing particles through the sensing area, and monitoring the output of a detector as a function of time as the particles pass the sensing area between the light beam source and the detector, thereby causing the light in the light beam to be partially obscured as one or more particles pass through the sensing area, said detector of a type having an output that is adjustable for a given input by adjusting the gain of the detector, the improvement of compensating for the accumulation of dirt, dust and various chemicals that may accumulate on optical components which shape the light beam and which direct the light beam to the detector by:

(a) first, adjusting the intensity of the light source until such time as the output of the detector is within a specified range, or until an indicia of the intensity of the light beam reaches a specified value,

(b) if, after step (a), the output of the detector is not within the specified range, incrementally adjusting the gain of the detector, and

(c) if after step (b), if the output of the detector is not within the specified range, looping back once more to step (a) and repeating the process until either the detector output is within the specified range, or until the detector is set for maximum gain.