Independent planter closing system
AssigneeAGCO Corporation
InventorKevin J. Hamilton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a row unit, comprising an upright frame portion comprising front and rear-facing sides, the front facing side configured to be coupled to a tool bar; a fore and aft extending frame coupled on one end to the rear-facing side, the fore and aft extending frame operably coupled to one or more disc openers and plural gauge wheels; a pair of arms pivotably and independently coupled to the fore and aft extending frame; a pair of closing wheels, each operably coupled to one of the pair of arms; and a pair of down force components, each coupled between the upright frame and the one of the pair of arms.
Claims21
A row unit, comprising:
- an upright frame portion comprising front- and rear-facing sides, the front-facing side configured to be coupled to a tool bar;
- a fore-and-aft extending frame coupled on one end to the rear-facing side, the fore-and-aft extending frame operably coupled to at least one disc opener and at least one gauge wheel;
- a first arm connected to the fore-and-aft extending frame at a first pivot axis;
- a first closing wheel carried by the first arm;
- a first down force actuator connected to the rear-facing side of the upright frame and to the first arm, the first down force actuator controllable to maintain a selected down force between the first closing wheel and a ground surface;
- a second arm connected to the fore-and-aft extending frame at a second pivot axis;
- a second closing wheel carried by the second arm;
- and
- a second down force actuator connected to the rear-facing side of the upright frame and to the second arm, the second down force actuator controllable to maintain a selected down force between the second closing wheel and the ground surface.
A closing wheel control system, comprising:
- a row unit, comprising:
- an upright frame portion comprising front- and rear-facing sides, the front-facing side configured to be coupled to a tool bar;
- a fore-and-aft extending frame coupled on one end to the rear-facing side, the fore-and-aft extending frame operably coupled to at least one disc opener and at least one gauge wheel;
- a first arm connected to the fore-and-aft extending frame at a first pivot axis;
- a first closing wheel carried by the first arm;
- a first down force actuator connected to the rear-facing side of the upright frame and to the first arm;
- a second arm connected to the fore-and-aft extending frame at a second pivot axis;
- a second closing wheel carried by the second arm;
- and
- a second down force actuator connected to the rear-facing side of the upright frame and to the second arm;
- and
- a controller configured to independently control actuation of the first and second down force actuators to maintain a selected down force between a ground surface and each of the first and second closing wheels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.