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US 11,997,939 B2Granted
Controlled air pulse metering apparatus for an agricultural planter and related systems and methods
AssigneeAg Leader Technology
InventorsDouglas Gilbert, Jeff Westbrook, Alex Hartogh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Seed meters implementing air pressure to dispense seed into the ground in a controlled manner. In certain embodiments, a valve is actuated to push a single seed out of a seed chamber. The seed can be conveyed from the metering housing and through a seed delivery apparatus to the furrow at high speed. The seed is rapidly conveyed from the seed chamber to the furrow by a precisely controlled air pulse to eliminate variation enable high planting speeds.
Claims14
An apparatus for metering seed comprising:
- (a) a housing;
- (b) a seed chamber defined within the housing, the seed chamber comprising:
- (i) a seed positioning location;
- and
- (ii) a seed ejection lumen;
- (c) a seed receiving lumen in fluidic communication with the seed chamber;
- (d) an air intake lumen in fluidic communication with the seed chamber;
- (e) an air source in fluidic communication with the air intake lumen;
- and
- (f) a valve,
- wherein the valve is configured to provide air pulses from the air source to the seed chamber via the air intake lumen, and wherein the air pulses urge a seed in the seed positioning location toward the seed ejection lumen, and wherein seeds are sequentially deposited on the seed positioning location and serially ejected via the seed ejection lumen.
8 more elements
A system for metering seed comprising:
- (a) a housing comprising:
- (i) a seed receiving lumen;
- and
- (ii) a seed chamber in fluidic communication with the seed receiving lumen, the seed chamber defining:
- (A) a seed launching position configured to sequentially receive seed from the seed receiving lumen;
- and
- (B) an ejection lumen;
- (b) an air source in fluidic communication with the seed chamber via a valve and an air intake lumen,
- wherein seeds are serially urged from the seed launching position and through ejection lumen via a pulse of air delivered from the air source via the valve and the air intake lumen.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.